Shades of the Blot
by Mixed-Shades
Summary: In a land ruled by dark creatures, danger lurks around every corner and fear consumes the forgotten toons. The Mad Doctor dethroned Oswald and that led to a series of attacks towards him and his allies and a new regime upon Wasteland. When they find out about the Doctor's latest plan, the Cartoon World might be in danger and the services of a brave mouse are needed again.
1. Prologue: The Fall of Wasteland

**A/N: I can't believe this hasn't been done before, but anyways, hi there.**

**This is my take on how Epic Mickey 2 could have been like. Hope you like it.**

**Just a little warning, I'm not from an English-speaking country, so if there's any writing mistake, please let me know.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters nor the game, they belong to Disney. However, I do own my OCs and the plot.**

**Enjoy.**

**:::**

**|WARNING – THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH THIS STORY TAKES PLACE IS ENTIRELY FICTIONAL AND THE CHARACTERS' PERSONALITIES MAY NOT CORRESPOND TO THEIR ACTUAL ONES. THE FOLLOWING FIC CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE AND DUE TO ITS CONTENT IT SHOULD NOT BE READ BY ANYONE.|**

**:::**

**Prologue: The Fall of Wasteland**

[Yen Sid's POV]

_Long ago, I created a land for creations that have been forgotten._

_It was a happy place; a chance for all the unfortunate toons to feel wanted, respected and safe. It could even be considered the peaceful afterlife many people wish for._

_To ensure all these inhabitants' happiness, I appointed the very first forgotten character as their leader, for I knew he was the only one capable of handling such task. And it worked out pretty well for a long time._

_Until one day, when disaster struck upon that peaceful world._

_A rather brave but mischievous mouse discovered my workshop and created a powerful and dangerous threat that would soon ravish the world I have created and turn it into… a Wasteland. Chaos and fear filled the retired toons' inexistent hearts and many were forced to run away from the monster destroying their world. The brave leader and his followers fought back as best as they could, but even they knew that the Shadow Blot was too strong for them… and Oswald was forced to pay the highest price to imprison it and keep it away from his people… but even that was not enough to stop the dark demon from getting what it wanted…_

_And thus, many years passed and the mouse did not acknowledge the consequences of his actions. That is, until his own creation brought him to the forgotten world. Mickey soon discovered his purpose in Wasteland was to correct the damages he made and, facing many challenges and choices, he saved the forgotten land from total destruction with the help of a new friend… Oswald the Lucky Rabbit himself._

_At last, good triumphed over evil, happiness and prosperity covered the land, and a family was reunited…_

_But that was only the beginning._

_Not much time after the brave mouse came back to the Cartoon World, an old nemesis returned and threatened Wasteland with an army of powerful creatures. They spread chaos and fear by wreaking havoc everywhere and terrifying the innocent and defenseless citizens; the Mad Doctor crowned himself the new Mechanical King of Wasteland and hunted Oswald and his allies down. He proceeded to establish a tyrannical regime and the remaining toons were forced to succumb before him and his minions, and the refugees had to run away and hide._

…

_I fear for all toons that this will not end well…_

…_But then again, I could be wrong…_

.:END OF PROLOGUE:.


	2. Chapter 1: The Blotling Hunters

**Chapter 1: The Blotling Hunters**

It was dark all around.

No one no longer knew the difference between night and day; it was dark either way. But it always seemed darker in the thick forest that surrounded the Bog Easy Square. No one ever dared to approach those woods. Even old Louis didn't leave in the wooden shack anymore. The few citizens who dared to walk around the square at these hours couldn't ignore the growls and snarls echoing amid the trees and bushes, as the Doctor's stronger minions, the Blurs, gave chase to three toons to whom their master held most hatred.

The Blurs were made out of the same dark ink the Blotlings were made of, but weren't affected by Paint and had amazing regeneration capacities. What distinguished them from the Blotlings at the first sight were the shapes; they could look like a snake or a lizard, a pterodactyl or a giant bat, anything that looked scary and dangerous.

The three toons ran and ran, trying to keep a great distance between them and the monsters, but also trying not to lead them towards the villagers. The leader, a rabbit, held the stolen pin to his chest with his right hand and his thinner whip with the other as he whipped every bush that dared to stand in their way. They couldn't waste any time.

The bat girl looked behind her shoulder and gritted her teeth, cursing those Blurs which had injured her wing. Oswald wasn't kidding when he said thinner was 'corrosive as all hell'. She stretched her arm behind her, aimed her thinner pistol and fired a few times. She managed to hit several of the creatures, but most of them were quickly revived. Damn, she wished she wasn't injured so she could fly and get them all out of there. _Knew this was a bad idea._ She thought as she forced her legs to run faster.

The bobcat boy kept his eyes on his sister and on the Blurs before shifting his gaze to the immensity of dark trees around them, trying to find some sort of shortcut towards the projector screen. They had to get back to Mickeyjunk Mountain fast. He almost got into a frenetic panic when the girl fell to her knees.

"Ginny!" he yelled and ran to her, trying to get her to her feet.

"No, Jack! Go!" she protested.

"You really think I'm leaving you here?" he snapped.

"A girl can hope." she muttered, finally standing. She casted a look behind her, frowning as the Blurs kept approaching them with a sick gleam in their evil eyes.

"Shit." she said and then grabbed Jack's arm and made a run for it. There was no way she was letting her little brother fall in their hands.

"Oswald!" she yelled at her leader, who had already violated the entire forest ahead of them. The pain in her wing was becoming so intolerable she was now heaving.

"Ginny, you okay?" Jack asked, a worried tone in his voice.

"I'm simply over the moon!" she replied sarcastically.

"Hurry up! They're gaining on us!" they heard Oswald shout a few steps ahead of them. He had turned around the slightest to shoot a couple of the monsters, who were threatening to make a grab for his sidekicks.

"Ya think?!" Ginny exclaimed, finally managing to catch up with Oswald.

"Not the time to give me an attitude!" Oswald snapped, whipping more bushes out of the way.

"Then when should I?"

"Guys, can you save this fight for later? They're almost on us!"

"And whose fault was it?" Oswald snapped.

"Oh, right. Got injured. My bad." Ginny replied with a deadpan expression.

"Guys!" Jack yelped and stopped abruptly, so did Ginny and Oswald when they looked up, absolute horror filling their eyes. They were surrounded by Blurs and other Blotlings. The inky creatures were snarling incomprehensible things as they approached them slowly. The toons huddled back to back, looking at every single creature around them.

"Think you can fight, Gin?" Oswald asked, tightening his grip on his whip and on his pistol.

"Oh, dry up." she snapped and took her crossbow off of her back, clutching it in her other hand. Jack grabbed his sword and swung it a couple of times, trying to push the creatures away.

"This is all your fault, rabbit! If you hadn't gone after that stupid pin, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Ginny said.

"Well, you should tell that to Prescott! He was the one who wanted new weapons!" Oswald countered.

"And so you send us all to a living hell! It makes perfect sense now!" she remarked. "Thanks for clearing that up."

"My pleasure." Oswald snapped.

"Guys, could you stop fighting for a moment and focus? Who's the adult here?"

"What an interesting question-" Ginny mused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Oswald retorted, turning to give her a glare.

"Guys!" Jack called, pointing forward. A giant Blur was looming over them; it looked similar to a Slobber but it was way sturdier. Oswald gulped. They had never seen a Blur like this. _They're getting stronger._ The Lucky Rabbit thought as the Blur smirked meanly and growled at them.

"Wow… the Doc's been having fun with your toys, Os." Ginny mused.

"Yeah, I see it." Oswald replied, frowning.

"Hum… how are we gonna get through?" Jack asked. Ginny hugged him protectively and turned towards her leader.

"Okay rabbit, time to shine. What's the plan?"

He looked at her, completely clueless. Damn, he didn't like to feel so hopeless. He was the Blotling Slayer, for Pete's sake! Ginny was hurt and they had been ambushed. He had to get them out of there. He had to-

Then suddenly a thought hit him. _The remote_. Of course! He had completely forgotten about it. He dug into his pocket and took off of it a silver remote control. Smirking at the Blurs, he pressed the red button and a large force field of electricity formed around the three toons. The monsters shook and shrunk, screaming in pain as the electric waves came into contact with their inky skin.

"Buh-bye, suckers!" Oswald hollered with a salute and then smiled when he caught sight of a projector screen not many feet away from them. He turned to his team. "Let's go."

"Lead the way, Magellan." Ginny said and the three of them ran towards the portal to freedom and jumped into it.

.:END OF CHAPTER 1:.


	3. Chapter 2: The Toon Resistance

**Chapter 2:** **The Toon Resistance**

Ginny winced as the horrible stinging sensation worsened and went to touch her wing, but feared the touch would only upset her wound further. She felt a squeeze in her hand and turned to Jack beside her, who looked extremely concerned. Damn, she didn't want him to worry about her; that was her job. She gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand back reassuringly. At least it was her who got injured and not him.

She knew he felt guilty. After all, the shot had been aimed towards him in the first place. She had pushed him away and ended up getting struck instead. She was lucky her wing was the only thing wounded; thinner could really do a number on a toon.

She looked forward and frowned at Oswald, who was walking a few feet ahead of them. It was all his fault – well, not really, but still, he was the one who made her go explore the Mad Doctor's ghastly lab in Blot Alley with him. And once Jack found out they were going to 'see the outside world' as he had said, he had wanted to come along, much to Ginny's refusal. She had threatened to ground him, said she'd watch whatever half-assed show he liked, hell, she even tried to bribe him with ice cream – she knew he loved it and they hardly ever ate it now. Nothing worked. And Oswald hadn't seen reason either; he simply said 'the more the better'.

Ginny had then finally given in and allowed Jack to come, too. Damn she should have seen this coming. She was just a kid herself, why did she always have to be the responsible one?

They kept walking in silence through the dark tunnels of Mickeyjunk Mountain's Underground, the lit torches on the earthy walls illuminating the way. These tunnels made the perfect refuge for the Resistance, since all the refugees had been living in separate sections of the Underground for a year now and the Mad Doc still had no idea of their existence. Ginny figured that either the thought never crossed his mind, or he was just too lazy to look for them below ground.

"You alright, Ginny?" Oswald asked, glancing at her over his shoulder when they rounded a corner. He actually looked concerned.

"Perfect." she replied sarcastically.

Oswald sighed. "Y'know, that attitude of yours is going to get you in trouble someday."

"Your deranged plans too." she pointed out.

"Ginny…" Jack said quietly in a warning tone.

"What does that mean?" Oswald said, twirling around and facing her with a stern expression. She heard Jack mutter something like "Oh, boy" and cringe slightly.

"Deranged? It means crazy, demented, unhinged-"

"Goddammit, that's not what I meant and you know it!" Oswald snapped irritably. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Then enlighten me, please." she said. "How would you describe the situation you've put us into?"

Oswald opened his mouth but no sound came out. He decided to glare at her instead, his arms crossed. "Ginny, this is not the time to be a wiseass. You know what we did that for."

She sighed. "As if you'd let me forget. And I'm not being a wiseass; I'm being truthful."

Oswald passed his hands over his face tiredly and heaved a long sigh. "Let's just bring this to Prescott." he declared and restarted to walk down the tunnel, muttering under his breath all the while.

"Yeah, and while you're at it, tell him I'm sending him the hospital bill." Ginny said as she and Jack hurried to follow after their leader.

:::

Ortensia paced back and forth in their section of the Toon Refuge and tried to force herself to calm down, though she found it impossible to do so with so many thoughts rushing through her head. Gus was sitting in a worn out avocado green armchair reading an outdated newspaper, his feet resting on their small coffee table, and looked up at her wearily when she passed by him. Prescott was working on some gadget at the designated weapon table in the corner of the room and seemed to be completely tuned out of the world around him.

Ortensia glanced at the clock on the wall again and furrowed her eyebrows worriedly. Where were Oswald and the kids? They should have been back by now. _Did something happen? Had they been caught by the Blurs? Oh God, what if-_

The jumps and cheers coming from the other room interrupted her line of thought and she frowned deeper. The Bunny Children should have been asleep hours ago. What were they doing up? _Probably waiting for daddy._ She thought and shook her head as she went back to pacing in front of the old TV.

"Don't worry, Ortensia. They'll be back before you know it." Gus said, lowering his paper to give her his full attention.

"That's what you said ten minutes ago!" she retorted.

"Actually, it was five minutes ago." Prescott countered casually and Gus turned around in his seat to glare up at him.

"You're not helping." he hissed and Prescott shrugged, clearly not caring.

"It's true." he stated as he picked up a wrench from his toolkit.

Gus shook his head disapprovingly and turned back to give Ortensia a reassuring smile. "I mean it. They'll be back before you-"

"_Mes amis_!" they heard a familiar French accented voice and turned to face the arriving gremlin, who was hovering in the middle of their section with a rather alarmed expression.

"Greetings, Jamface." Gus said.

"Bonjour, Gus. Bonjour Ortensia." he nodded in acknowledgement at them before turning to Prescott. "Prescott."

"Yeah, whatever." the gremlin replied dryly without taking his eyes off of his work.

"How are things in the Gulch?" Gus asked, standing up and approaching his friend.

"Oh, it's really bad; those Blurs are getting stronger."

Ortensia gasped. _Where are you, Oswald?!_

"Are the others okay?" she asked urgently. Gus had sent several gremlins to investigate each area of Wasteland one week ago and they hadn't heard from them ever since. He said it was to make Oswald's job easier, though Ortensia didn't like the idea of risking the gremlins' lives like that. She was relieved Jamface seemed to be fairly okay.

"I don't know, I've only spoken to Sparks and Markus." Jamface replied with sad eyes. "I haven't heard from the others since we left."

"Have you seen Oswald?" she asked after a few moments, her hands clasped together.

"That's what I came here for." he replied. "I heard from Markus that some villagers over in Bog Easy Square saw a group of Blurs giving chase to someone."

"It was them! Holy Jesus, it was them!" Ortensia stressed out.

"Calm down, Ortensia." Gus said and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You can't be sure of that."

"But it's obvious, Gus." Prescott chimed in, though still not looking up at them. "I mean, who else would screw up like that?"

"Prescott!" Gus scolded.

"Don't 'Prescott' me!" he replied, finally facing them with a stern expression. "Their only task was to bring a pin from the Mad Doctor's stockroom to upgrade their weapons! You know those kids; they can't stay still for long."

"Oswald was with them." Gus pointed out, receiving a snort from Prescott.

"Big deal. He's a kid himself."

"Who's a kid?" they heard from the doorway and turned around to see Oswald smirking up at them, Ginny's big scowl and Jack's worried expression. Ortensia's chest instantly felt lighter as all her worries melted away at the sight the trio.

"Speak of the devil." Prescott muttered bitterly and turned back to whatever he was doing. Ortensia, now elated, sprinted to the door and threw herself at the rabbit, wrapping his arms around him tightly.

"You had me so worried, Hunny Bunny! Don't _ever_ do that again!" she said and closed her eyes when she felt him hug her back.

"Sorry, Honey Bunch." Oswald muttered in her ear while rubbing circles in her back soothingly.

"Oh, don't mind me; I'm just some girl parading a bleeding wing around." Ginny snapped and staggered into the room with Jack holding her arm above his shoulder. He turned his eyes to Gus and Ortensia.

"Can you help her?" he pleaded.

"What happened?" Gus asked, raising his brow at the bat girl.

"She was shot."

"What?!" Ortensia exclaimed, now paying full attention to Ginny. She had a big cut on her left wing that was swollen and bleeding a bit. Ortensia wasn't really shocked; she usually played the role of the nurse in their little group. "Hmm, that looks pretty bad."

"And it hurts pretty badly too." Ginny said.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Ortensia smiled at her adopted daughter warmly.

"Thanks." Ginny then turned to Oswald with a smug expression. "See, Os? There's a fine example of how to be delicate."

"Oh, for crying out loud!" the Lucky Rabbit blurted out in frustration and rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, let's go to the other room, okay?" Ortensia urged, draping her arm over Ginny's shoulders.

"Will you be okay?" asked Jack as he let go of his sister's arm.

"You know me Jack, I can manage." Ginny winked and allowed Ortensia to lead her out of the common room.

:::

Oswald walked up to where Prescott was sitting and dropped a golden pin with the shape of a screwdriver on the table, startling the gremlin in the process.

"Special delivery." he stated.

"Huh, I have to say I'm impressed. Was starting to think you messed up." Prescott said, taking the pin with both hands and examining it carefully, like it was some foreign object that would enable him to communicate with alien life.

Oswald scoffed. "Please, as if I'd let those monsters wannabes catch us."

"They almost did." Jack pointed out.

"But they didn't. And you're both safe now."

Jack rolled his eyes and muttered something that Oswald chose to ignore, before sitting down at the table. He then unsheathed his sword and began to clean it with a rag and Oswald sat down beside him and sighed, pleased to finally being able to rest his legs.

"So, is it true? The Blurs chased you in the forest?" Jamface asked as he and Gus approached the weapon table.

"Yup." Oswald replied with a nod. "We wouldn't have escaped if it wasn't for the remote."

"It didn't kill them, though." Jack muttered.

"Yeah, I know it didn't kill them, but it slowed them down, didn't it?"

Jack shrugged and Oswald sighed. He knew Jack liked to fight every time he left the Refuge and this time he probably didn't use his sword as much as he'd have liked to.

"Look, there'll be other fights…" Oswald began, but he could tell the bobcat boy wasn't paying the minimum of attention to him, so he trailed off right there. Why bother to waste breath?

"They're getting stronger." he stated matter-of-factly turning to face the gremlins again with his brows furrowed in a frown.

"See? That's exactly what the upgrade's for!" Prescott gloated from the other end of the table. "And Ortensia kept saying it was a bad idea to steal one of the Mad Doc's major pins."

"Do you even hear yourself when you speak?" Oswald asked with an eyebrow raised. Prescott blinked at him before clearing his throat.

"Wait, lemme rephrase that-"

"There're no need to; it was a dumb idea."

"We got the pin though." Jack chimed in, staring down at the now shiny blade of the sword.

"Thanks, kid. At least _someone's_ on my side-" Prescott said smugly.

"I believe you should spend the time you waste running your mouth working on those new weapons you were just babbling about." Gus said sternly, earning a scowl from Prescott and a chuckle from the others.

"Piss off, Gus. If it wasn't for me, there'd be no weapons at all."

"Y'know Gus can make 'em too, right?" Jack remarked and Prescott directed his glare towards him.

"Hey, thought you were on my side, kid!"

The bobcat shrugged. "I'm on no one's side; I'm just noting out the facts."

Prescott scoffed and crossed his arms. "Look who's running their mouth now-"

"It's still you. Start working. Now." Gus ordered and the grumpy gremlin muttered some profanities before turning back to the different materials scattered on top of the table.

Oswald, rather amused with the small banter, looked over at Jamface. "So, what brings you here? Are the others okay?"

"I was just talking to Gus and Ortensia about that." the French gremlin replied. "You see, _mes amis_, the Blurs are getting stronger every day-"

"Funny, I thought it would make more sense if they somehow got weaker." Jack mused with a deadpan expression, now polishing his pistol.

"Hush, Jack." Oswald hissed, receiving a shrug from the bobcat boy, and turned to the gremlin again. "Keep going."

"Well, Sparks told me he saw several new Blurs coming out of the Doctor's lab in the Castle." Jamface continued. "He said he spends almost every waking moment working on them. It seems like he's forgetting about the Blotlings altogether."

"So he's making us deal with fewer monsters. Gotta give him kudos for that." Oswald said.

"I don't know if that's that simple." Gus countered, scratching his chin.

"Here we go." Prescott said, rolling his eyes. "Dr. Complicated is in."

"Shouldn't you be working?" Gus hissed, making Prescott frown up at him but eventually turn back to his task. "What I'm saying is, as the Mad Doctor now has new and much more powerful minions, it's likely that he's giving the Blotlings silly tasks to keep them entertained and out of the way. But I don't know if that benefits us."

"What do you mean?" Oswald inquired.

"Well, if the Mad Doctor spends so much time improving the Blurs, it means that he's making them stronger and perhaps even more difficult to defeat."

"That's why we needed new weaponry!" Prescott chimed.

"Prescott." Gus hissed.

"But this doesn't make any sense." Oswald said, stroking his chin, deep in thought. "Why would he keep upgrading the Blurs? He's already dominated Wasteland and enslaved the citizens. What else does he want?"

"For now, we have no way to know." Gus stated. "But what does matter now is that he can't go far without the pin you stole-"

"Ha! So you admit it was a good idea!" Prescott exclaimed and pointed his finger at Gus accusingly.

"I never said that, did I?"

"But you were thinking it!"

"I find it extremely fascinating that you spent yesterday's afternoon ranting about our weapons being 'old-fashioned' and now you're not even pretending to be upgrading them."

More snickers were heard and Prescott's scowl came back.

"Stuff it, Gus, I-"

"Now, I hate to interrupt your whining, Prescott, but Gus's right. Start working." Oswald said with a smirk, earning a glare from the gremlin as he picked up a hammer and, muttering some obscenities, restarted his work.

"I'm gonna go check on Ginny." Jack announced and stood up to walk to the room Ginny and Ortensia were currently occupying. Oswald also stood up and faced the two amused gremlins with a smirk of his own.

"Thanks, Jamface." he said.

"You're welcome, _mes amis_. I think I should go back to the Gulch now, _non_?"

"Don't you want to stay for supper?" Gus offered.

"No, thank you. As soon as I know something else I'll let you know."

They nodded and waved at Jamface as the gremlin disappeared in thin air. Oswald didn't really like to risk the lives of so many gremlins, but he had to admit, it did make his job a lot easier. Now he only had to worry about whatever half-witted plan was crossing through the Doc's tiny mind.

.:END OF CHAPTER 2:.


	4. Chapter 3: The Detectives

**Chapter 3: The Detectives**

The fog surrounding the once glorious Dark Beauty Castle was deep enough that you couldn't distinguish the enormous castle's shape even if you squinted. Several Blurs were marching in and out through the gates – the symbol now being the Mad Doctor's face instead of Oswald's – and inside the castle many Blotlings were seen sweeping.

The Mad Doctor was sitting in Oswald's former throne, tapping his fingers impatiently in the wooden armrest. He could almost taste the flavor of victory; the Blurs he sent after Oswald and his little Hunters were stronger than the ones he usually used. Sure, they were just prototypes, but he was certain they would wipe those meddling rebels' smirks off of their faces just fine. They were fools if they thought they could invade his property-

He looked up as the sound of flapping wings rang in hid ears and raised an eyebrow as a defeated-looking bat-Blur came flying – or rather attempting to fly – into the throne room through the open double doors before it landed on the armrest beside the Doctor.

"Yes, what is it?" he said in his impatient Russian accent. The Blur gulped and whispered in the Doctor's ear, his face changing from mildly annoyed to downright pissed off in a fraction of seconds.

"They what?!" he bellowed and smacked the Blur away, which shrieked in pain as it was flung across the room. "They stole my Resourcefulness Pin?!" The Doctor stood up, his face reddening from growing rage. "Oh, Oswald, you've got balls… you've got _balls_ to think you can break into my goddamn property and get away with it!" he let out an enraged scream and kicked his armrest aside. "Why don't those twerps just give it up?!"

_Because they're stubborn brats, that's why!_ He thought bitterly and looked over at the bat Blur in the corner, wondering what it was still doing there. "Leave me." he spat and the Blur crawled towards the exit hastily, its inky wings harmed enough to prevent it from flying.

Now alone, the Mad Doctor paced back and forth, thinking about what to do with the former leader of Wasteland. He was becoming a real pain to the Doctor and he couldn't figure out why the rabbit wouldn't just give it up. He won; Oswald lost. Game over. Why did he have to keep interfering with his plans?

He normally tolerated the rabbit's stubbornness and his pathetic attempts to fight against his regime, but this time Oswald had crossed the line; invading his secret laboratory and stealing one of his special pins was the last straw for the Doctor. "Those pests are really asking for it…" he was breathing heavily through his nostrils, anger bubbling up inside of his robotic body.

He stopped dead in his tracks when a thought hit him; the Blurs he sent were _supposed_ to prevent anything stupid from happening. How the hell did that little hopping freak and his gang of morons manage to defeat his stronger minions? He had upgraded them for a reason, dammit!

He shook his head in annoyance and rubbed his temples. This was frustrating as hell. The Toon Resistance had been a true pain in the neck ever since he had taken over; it was clearly time to do something about those little heroes-wannabes.

_What, though?_

He sighed angrily, deciding that he'd better come up with something as soon as possible; he didn't want those annoying rebels breathing his air and walking on his ground any longer. He was actually willing to nuke the entire land if it meant the end of those idiots' existence. It would be hard to move on with any sort of scheme without that pin, though…

He heard a gargling sound and turned around, raising an annoyed eyebrow as he saw a group of Blotlings gathered around the entrance of his throne room eyeing him confusedly. "What the hell are you looking at, retards? Get back to work before I wipe the floor with you!" he spat angrily and relished the view of his weaker minions screeching in fear as they scampered away. It was good, being in charge. Even if he was the king of a bunch of inky freaks whose only use was to-

_Wait a minute._ A thought suddenly struck the Mad Doctor's mind and his lips tugged upwards in a sickening smile. "Now that I think of it, I may not need that pin… there are plenty of organic sources around, after all." he glanced over at the windows, watching as the dark clouds in the sky twirled around in circles. "Oswald wants to play hero? Good. I'll personally teach him and his entire goon squad to mess with the great Mechanical King of Wasteland." he trailed off and broke into a loud evil laugh that echoed around the walls of the castle.

:::

"You sure you're okay, Ginny?"

"For the fifteenth time, Jack, yes, I am." Ginny replied, now indeed feeling much better. Ortensia sure knew how to treat her patients. She wished Jack would stop being so concerned, though; he had been nagging her about her wellbeing ever since they returned yesterday. She wondered if this was how he felt whenever she stressed out over him too much.

Ginny slid to a chair beside her brother at the dinner table and waited for Ortensia's food. They were all starving – well, at least she and Jack were. Gus was reading an outdated newspaper, scrunching up his nose and moving his moustache every once in a while, and Oswald was channel surfing in the sitting area. Prescott was seated in front of her with his arms crossed and a big scowl on his face. _Big surprise there._ She thought. He had been a bit grumpy since yesterday, but that wasn't exactly big news. His bad moods had become routine by now, they were so frequent.

"Y'know, if you keep the grouchy face up, it's gonna freeze that way." Ginny stated and smirked when Prescott directed his glare towards her.

"I'm not in the mood, girl."

"You never are." she retaliated.

He rolled his eyes. "Well, excuse me if I'm not feeling like listening to you run your mouth this early in the morning."

"Well, putting up with your negativity isn't exactly a picnic either."

He grunted and slumped back in his seat, apparently deciding to just ignore her. Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering what was the matter with him today. She hadn't seen him show other emotions besides boredom and irritation since she first met him and it always got under her skin.

"Alright, people. Breakfast's ready!" Ortensia chanted as she walked into the lair, followed by dozens of the Bunny Children. Ginny was glad the tunnels were huge, because Oswald's kids wouldn't fit in a normal house.

She watched as Ortensia laid out their feast – scrambled eggs with toast – on the table, but before any of them could start eating, a loud knock on the door sounded throughout their section.

"I'll get it." Ortensia announced and skipped away to go answer the door.

"You expecting someone?" Jack asked and looked over at Oswald. The rabbit shrugged and got up from the couch, approaching the table and directing his gaze towards his wife as she opened the front door. "Oh, Horace."

Ginny, Jack and Prescott all rolled their eyes at that revelation. Horace was a great friend, couldn't argue with that, but ever since the Mad Doctor assumed control, he became a real pain in the tail. He tried to compete with Oswald at all times, playing the 'I'm-a-better-hero-than-you' game, and seemed to truly believe that he was better than everyone else. Therefore, his visits were always unpleasant, to say the least.

"Hello, fellas!" the detective said cheerfully as he entered their lair in a nonchalant stride. "How are you in this fine morning?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow when she saw a puma boy coming in dressed as a detective – like Horace – and scribbling non-stop in a notepad. She heard Jack mutter something that sounded like "Not this one again…" and she couldn't have agreed more; Tony Puma was Horace's newest anal and sissy assistant. He was also his biggest fanboy and she had a feeling that was why Horace hired him in the first place.

Then again, she couldn't lay her finger on why he even wanted an assistant; he had no job now. No one needed a detective, unless he wanted to work for the Mad Doctor, and that would be stupid, considering he was one of the Toon Rebels.

"Hi, Horace." Oswald greeted with a nod.

"Hello, Oswald. I suppose you're doing nothing, as usual." Horace replied haughtily. _Oh gee, he's gonna play that game again today?_ Ginny thought exhaustively.

"Wouldn't be any different from you, would it?" Prescott stated dryly. She snickered when Tony sent an indignant look towards the grumpy gremlin's direction. Okay, the guy could be moodier than a pregnant woman, but it was in times like this that she remembered why she tolerated living with him.

"Prescott, don't start." Gus sighed impatiently, though you could see the hint of a smile in his lips.

"Why? It isn't exactly big news that Horace doesn't work for a living." Ginny added and smiled wider when Horace and Tony shifted their annoyed and shocked looks to her direction.

"Ginny, hush." Oswald scolded good-naturedly.

"I see you kept the little mouthy orphans. What's up, Ozzie? Couldn't find real soldiers and so you hired the urchins?"

Ginny frowned instantly, her jaw tightening. When Oswald and Ortensia took them in, Horace was the only one who had protested against it. They were street kids; why not just send them to the other sections of the refuge? Plus, why care about them at all?

Then Oswald decided to adopt them for reasons that went beyond her understanding and trained them to be his Hunters, much to Horace's protest. She didn't really get why he didn't like them that much, but every time he showed up, he'd just insult or snap at her and Jack, which normally resulted in heated fights amongst them.

"Better than a has-been detective and his idiotic associate." Ginny retorted and Jack burst out laughing at the two detectives' faces.

"Has-been!" Horace exclaimed in an offended tone.

"You little punk! Do you know who you're talking to?!" Tony said in a high-pitched tone. She was actually amazed he hadn't taken offense on her comment about him.

"Nor do I care." she shrugged, not even bothering to hide her amused smirk.

"He's Horace Horsecollar!" the puma boy continued as if she hadn't even said anything. "The greatest detective of all times! There has been no case he hasn't solved yet-"

As Tony went on with his speech on why Horace walked on water, said detective had a haughty look plastered across his face, daring anyone to deny anything his assistant was saying. God, and she thought nobody was more egocentric than Daffy Duck.

"I'm amazed his fat ego actually managed to pass through the door." Jack mused and Tony and Horace directed their glares towards him.

"You obnoxious creature-"

"Horace, I'm taking a wild guess, but I'm sure you didn't come here to be outsmarted by a sixteen and a thirteen-year-old." Oswald chimed in, a big grin on his face. "I'm sure there's some ulterior motive-"

"Stuff it, rabbit. Contrary to what you might think, I actually have a busy life, but I just thought you'd like to know..."

"What would I like to know?"

"Well, remember when you told me nobody needed my services anymore?"

"No, what I said was it would be strange if someone wanted to hire you now, considering the times we're living in." Oswald corrected, crossing his arms.

"Well, I'm here to prove you wrong. A toon was kidnapped."

"Congratulations, Horace. You discovered one of the most likely things to happen to a rebel in a war. You should be proud."

"Piss off, bunny; it wasn't just one toon."

Oswald frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Interested after all, aren't we?" Horace smirked. "My source tells me that there've been some kidnappings over in Ventureland. But what's more strange is that they were all part of the Doc's toon allies."

Ginny exchanged a look with Oswald. Now this was new. Why would he kidnap the pro-Mad Doctor toons?

"What else does your source tell you?" Gus asked.

"She said the Mad Doctor appeared in Tortooga in the middle of the night asking for the strongest men available, but ended up taking all the pirates."

Ginny raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jack, who was looking at her with a befuddled look. This couldn't be good. Why was the Doc doing-

And then a thought hit her. They stole a pin from the Doc's collection. Could this be related to that?

"And how do you intend to solve this crime?" Oswald asked, a twinge of curiosity and sarcasm in his voice.

"I cannot tell you."

"Well, if I didn't know any better I'd say you have no idea where to start and so you came here to ask for help-"

"You wish! Didn't you hear me? I-don't-need-you!"

"So, you're saying you just came here to brag?" Ortensia concluded with an eyebrow raised.

"Dude, you seriously need to find a new hobby." Jack added, receiving a glare from the detective.

"As if hunting those retarded inksplots is a productive career." he snapped back defensively.

"At least we're doing something besides sitting on our asses all day." Ginny retorted with a smirk.

"You little smart-mouth! I'm going to-" Horace started and she really wondered what he was going to do, but Gus put himself in front of them both before the horse could finish his tirade.

"Let's calm down here." The gremlin said.

"Why? I was actually enjoying watching good old Horace here being outwitted by a girl." Oswald said.

"Keep out of this, rabbit!" Horace snapped, turning to him.

"Settle down, you two." Gus intervened in a stern tone.

"Horace, it's been a pleasure, but I sincerely insist that you leave." Ortensia said.

"You're kicking me out? How dare-"

"Unless you have something relevant to say-"

"That would be a first." Jack said and Ginny burst out laughing at Horace's face.

"How dare you try to make a fool out of Mr. Horsecollar!" Tony shouted, clearly losing his temper.

"We don't need to try. He already does it all by himself." Ginny replied with a shrug.

"Alright, that does it!" Horace bellowed and began charging towards them, but was held back by a way-too-amused Oswald and Gus before he could reach the table. "I'll take care of that smartass! And her hellion brother as well! – I'll show you all-" Horace kept yelling while trying to break free from his friends' grasp.

"Alright, Horace, time to go, it's been a pleasure – bye!" Oswald said as he swept the detective and Tony out of the lair. When he closed the door, he sighed in relief and turned to the group with a smirk.

"Let's eat, folks." he declared and made his way towards the table to sit down with his cellmates. Ginny kept thinking about what Horace said, though. It was really weird, the Mad Doctor abducting his own allies, and she couldn't help but wonder if that pin had something to do with it. _Hope it's nothing_. She thought as she forked a piece of an egg into her mouth.

.:END OF CHAPTER 3:.


	5. Chapter 4: The Missing Toons

**Chapter 4: The Missing Toons**

Jack smirked victoriously while he put his sword down and looked at his opponent across from him. Oswald was panting, but had a proud smile on his face.

"Not bad, kiddo." he said, resting against his own sword. "Maybe someday you'll actually beat me."

Jack's grin widened. "What did you call my defeating you right now?"

The rabbit snorted. "Don't get smart with me; your sister already does plenty of that."

Jack chuckled and cleaned some sweat off of his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket. Goddamn, he was tired. But happy, nonetheless. He still couldn't believe he had actually beaten Oswald in a sword fight. Ginny was right; he was indeed getting better. However, Oswald didn't really like to admit when someone was better than him at something, so Jack wasn't exactly expecting him to accept defeat lightly. He just couldn't wait to show the Mad Doc what he could do.

He frowned slightly as this last thought brought back the reason of his worries – hell, everyone's worries. What Horace said, about those pirates being kidnaped, was still pounding into the little bobcat's head forcefully. He was sure the stupid horse didn't have a single clue about the whole thing, and he didn't have any hopes in that ass of an assistant either.

Maybe _they_ should do something about it. It wasn't normal for the Mad Doctor to go around abducting his own allies. He must be planning something big. Plus, he betted if there was any sort of clue _they_'d be the ones who'd find it, not Horace and his personal fanboy.

"Something troubling you?" he snapped back to the moment at Oswald's question.

"Huh? No, no." he said, though he could tell Oswald wasn't convinced if his raised eyebrow meant anything. He sighed dejectedly. "Well… remember what Horace said? About those toons being kidnapped?" at Oswald's nod, he went on, "Hmm, maybe we should do something about the whole thing."

The Lucky Rabbit didn't say anything for a moment, but then sighed exhaustively, "I've been thinking about it too. But you know Horace, he likes to show off. Maybe it was all malarkey. Besides, it was the Doc's own allies. As long as he doesn't go after our toons, I'm not going to trouble my mind with it."

Jack accepted that answer. It was true, maybe it was all a big load of bullcrap. _But what if it wasn't?_ He still wanted to know what kind of half-assed plan the Doc was cooking up.

He perked up his ears at the sound of a loud curse and glanced at the corner of the room, where Ginny was sitting beside Prescott at the weapon table and it looked like she was driving him nuts. He found this rather hypocritical of her, since she had told him countless times to not harass the gremlin so much and she seemed to be doing it herself. _Figures._

"C'mon, let's go see what Prescott's ranting about now." Oswald said with a knowing smirk and they both made their way towards the bickering toons.

"Say that one more time, brat!" the gremlin shouted, his brows furrowed in anger.

"Fine. You're a thick-head." Ginny replied with an amused smirk.

"I heard the first time!"

"Then why did you ask me to repeat it?"

"Why you little-"

"What's up, guys?" Oswald greeted as he and Jack got by their side.

"Hi." Ginny said with a smile. Prescott just shifted his glare towards him.

"My most sincere apologies for interrupting your stupendous banter, but it might be of your interest that little Jack here has officially mastered the sword in this latest duel." Oswald announced happily, nodding towards said bobcat.

"In other words, I own Oswald's ass now." Jack said in good humor and Ginny smiled – she seemed to be beaming even.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid-" Oswald warned half-heartedly.

"Why that's fantastic, Jack!" Ginny exclaimed, ignoring the rabbit and giving her brother a fierce hug. "Congrats!" Jack smiled and hugged back with as much force. He loved it when he made his sister proud.

"See, girl? Instead of running your mouth so much, you should be making yourself useful, like your brother." Prescott spat with his arms crossed and a smug expression. Ginny raised an eyebrow and turned to the gremlin with her hands on her hips.

"With what weapons? The ones you were supposed to be upgrading?"

That wiped the smirk off of his face. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Oswald beat him to it, "That's actually a great observation; where is the new weaponry, Prescott?"

The gremlin scoffed and stalked to the weapon table, muttering under his breath and clenching his fists in irritation. Jack snorted in laughter; this guy was so fun to tease, sometimes. He looked back at Oswald and noticed that the rabbit had his arms crossed and was staring at his sister with his famous 'stern look'. _Uh-oh, she was in trouble…_

"What? Did I grow a second head or something?" Ginny asked almost innocently.

"Ginny, we seriously need to talk about this."

"About what?"

"Your mouth. You're setting a bad example."

She sighed, "Alright, alright, just stop staring at me like that; it's giving me the creeps."

"That's precisely the point, now-"

"Fellas!" they heard from behind and turned around to find Gus and another frightened-looking gremlin hovering near the doorway.

"Hey, Gus." Oswald greeted cheerfully. "Who's that?"

"This is Gremlin Trigo. He's just come from OsTown." Gus explained.

"Yeah? And what's new?"

"Mr. Oswald, Blotling Slayer sir, a toon was kidnapped-" Trigo started hesitantly.

"Yeah, we know." Oswald interrupted, waving him off. "Horace burst in here yesterday gloating about that-"

"But that's not all, sir!" Trigo exclaimed frenetically. "This time it was one of ours!"

Jack stiffened. _The hell? One of us? _The little bobcat was confused to no end. The Mad Doctor was starting to go after the toon allies? That was not good. That was not good at all.

"O-one of ours?" Oswald stammered, clearly taken aback like him. "Who was it?"

Trigo lowered his head for a moment before looking up at them with wide and terrified eyes, "Clarabelle."

_No. _Jack gasped and grabbed Ginny's arm. She squeezed his hand in a comforting way and they both settled their eyes on Oswald, who was gaping and making an attempt to clench his fist. He was paler than usual, and he was already pale enough as it was. Who could blame him, though? Clarabelle was a close friend…

"How? What happened?" he choked out in a hoarse voice. Trigo just shook his head.

"Horace's gonna flip." Ginny muttered.

"Thank you, Trigo." Oswald said and put a hand over his eyebrows; it was a mannerism that normally indicated that he was stressed. Trigo bowed politely and let Gus lead him out of the room, returning to his group once their guest was gone.

"Goddammit, Os, Horace wasn't kidding." Ginny broke the thick silence.

"What do we do?" Jack asked in a low tone, feeling completely clueless.

"We do what we always do, folks." Oswald replied matter-of-factly as soon as he recovered from the shock.

"Snoop around?" Gus guessed.

"Precisely." Oswald nodded and then turned to the weapon table. "Hey, Prescott, what about those weapons?"

"Get off my back! They're almost ready to use." Prescott snapped, looking up at them with his brows furrowed in mild annoyance.

"Great, we'll need 'em."

:::

Oswald felt an agonizing sensation of broken nostalgia as he looked around the area on the other side of the projector screen. The once happy OsTown was now an inert ghost city, it seemed. The Mad Doctor hadn't bothered to send his little monsters to chaperone the town since he had determined it wasn't a good enough place to build a base. The fact that Clarabelle was kidnapped here made it all the more strange.

He had to wonder what she was doing here, though. Maybe she came to pick up flowers from her old garden. He knew she liked them, albeit he wasn't sure if there was still any living flower around – or any living_ thing_ for that matter.

"Let's go, guys." Oswald said to his team.

"Who died and made him boss?" Prescott mumbled and earned a nudge from Gus. Oswald rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore the comment. Prescott had insisted to come along to look for some more scrap metals for the weapons and Gus had said he should come too because he wasn't sure if Prescott knew the way home. That earned him a shove from an indignant the grumpy gremlin.

As they started to walk away from the projector screen, Oswald suddenly spied Horace pacing near his broken statue and talking loud enough to echo throughout the whole town. He didn't think the horse knew what happened; he seemed way too chirpy. Oswald noticed that that goofball Tony was there too, scribbling something in that notepad.

He couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for his friend – maybe the term 'acquaintance' would be more appropriate. He knew he'd feel miserable if Ortensia got caught by that twit of a doctor.

"Oh, look what the cat dragged in." Ginny mused as she also spied Horace and Tony.

"Let's go say howdy, folks." Oswald said and they all made their way towards the detectives.

"-and then we must search for fingerprints as well. The Mad Doctor will not get away unpunished. We'll be the heroes who'll save those defenseless toons. You noting all this, kid?" Horace was saying to Tony, who hurried to nod. "Good, be sure to include it in that-"

"What's up, Sherlock?" Oswald greeted and Horace let out a shriek and jumped around to face the approaching toons.

"What the hell – Oswald? Just what do you think you're doing here?!" he bellowed, taking a hand to his heaving chest.

"Nice to see you too." Oswald replied dryly.

"You didn't answer my question!" Horace looked more frustrated than mad. "I said I don't need your help, goddammit! I'm perfectly capable of handling this by myself!"

"Those poor hostages are doomed." Ginny whispered to Jack, who snickered.

"Ginny, hush." Oswald scolded.

"Why don't you keep that mouthy pest under control while I attend to my detective duties?"

"What? Flush the toilet after you're done?" Jack offered and Ginny and Prescott burst out laughing. Oswald glared at the three. Prescott could complain about those two all he wanted, but he was just like them.

"You little hellion-"

"Folks, I'd love to watch you all making fools of yourselves again, but I believe we have more important business to take care of, don'tcha think?" Oswald interrupted.

"Stuff it, Ears, I got here first! I'll be the one who's gonna solve this case and _you_'re not getting involved!"

"Do you even know what happened?"

"Why do you think I'm here, genius? One of us was kidnapped." Horace replied haughtily. Oswald raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know who it was, do you?" he asked.

"Does it matter? Whoever it was sure is stupid enough to come out of the Refuge. They remind me of you." Horace replied with a smug smirk.

Oswald smirked back. "Cute, Horace, but you wouldn't say that if you knew who it was."

"Oh yeah? Then please, satisfy my ignorance and tell me; who was the victim?"

"Clarabelle." Oswald answered firmly and saw astonishment, shock, absolute horror and panic trespassed through the horse's features all at once.

"Not so stupid now, is it?" Jack said.

"Wha-what?!" he shouted. "Clarabelle?! No! Goddammit, no!" he let out an enraged scream and threw his hat off of his head and onto the ground. "That son of a bitch! Why her?! Why did he have to go after _her_, of all people?!" he began pacing back and forth in front of the statue, seething as kept shouting all kinds of obscenities and threats towards the Mad Doctor.

Oswald looked on for a few moments and felt his more compassionate side kick in as he watched his distressed friend letting out his rage like that. He wanted to help the guy. Even if he was an arrogant ass most of the time, they were still friends, and friends helped each other. Right?

"Want my help now, or not?" the rabbit asked. Horace quickly stopped his rant to stare at him before breaking into a mocking grin.

"Oswald, you can be rest assured that if there's someone who doesn't need your help, it's me. _I_'ll save Clarabelle. She's _my_ girlfriend!"

"Oh, and I thought Prescott was unreasonable." Gus mused.

"What do you mean by that, Gus?" was Prescott's reply.

"He said you're unreasonable." Jack reiterated.

"Which is a compliment, considering all the things you are." Ginny added and Prescott gritted his teeth.

"You're a wiseass brat, you know that?"

"Honey, if hearing the truth hurts that much-"

"People, please, enough!" Gus interrupted. Oswald just rolled his eyes and turned his full attention back to Horace. The horse was stubborn as all hell, but even _he_ had to admit that he couldn't do this alone. Not without their help.

"Horace, think about it. Clarabelle is a hostage of the Mad Doctor, who happens to have a whole army of Blotlings, Beetleworx _and_ Blurs. Do you really think you can handle them all by yourself?"

"Mr. Horsecollar is perfectly capable of-" Tony started, but was interrupted by the rabbit.

"I wasn't talking to you, boy." he turned back to his friend. "Horace, this doesn't have to be a game. There are lives at stake – _Clarabelle's life_ is at stake, for Christ's sake! Just face it. You need help."

Horace seemed to be deep in thought as he stared at Oswald intently with tear-filled eyes. It actually looked like he was considering accepting his help for the first time in a big while. Maybe he'd see reason and not be an ass this time-

_Looks like I jinxed it._ Oswald thought bitterly as Horace suddenly burst out laughing. The Lucky Rabbit crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the guffawing horse to calm down.

"Think he lost his mind?" he heard Jack mutter.

"Maybe the only brain cell he had died." Ginny suggested.

"It didn't work that well, anyway." Prescott added.

"Quiet." Gus hissed at the three.

"Horace, if you're done with your laughing fit, will you care to answer my question?" Oswald demanded.

"No way in hell, rabbit. I can do this by myself."

"Horace-"

"Come, Anthony! We must prepare our assault to the Castle." Horace announced resolutely and turned to face his assistant.

"Right away, Mr. Horsecollar." Tony said determinedly.

The horse then turned to Oswald with a smug smirk, his eyes still showing traces of anger. "See you around." he said as he and Tony hurried to the Mean Street projector screen and jumped into it. Oswald sighed. _He never learns…_ he shook his head and turned back to his team.

"We're still going through with this, aren't we?" Ginny stated simply.

Oswald nodded. "Quite right, Gin. Prescott, gather all the scrap metal you need to make the best of weapons. We're gonna pay a certain doctor a visit."

.:END OF CHAPTER 4:.


	6. Chapter 5: Trip to Dark Beauty Castle

**Chapter 5: Trip to Dark Beauty Castle**

"You'll be okay?" Ortensia asked her husband in a worried voice.

"Sure will, Honey Bunch." Oswald replied with a wink and kissed her cheek.

While Oswald was over in OsTown, two gremlins had appeared and informed Ortensia that a whole bunch of toon allies was kidnapped in Mean Street. That had startled her immensely, and when Oswald came and told her about Clarabelle's disappearance, she almost passed out. Dammit, Clarabelle was her best friend, she couldn't have been kidnapped by that maniac!

Oh, but it got better; now Oswald wanted to go after the abducted toons. With the kids. Because Ortensia clearly could take losing another loved one, right? Goddammit, couldn't Oswald see how dangerous it was for them to parade around like that? The Doc surely would have a filled day if he caught the Blotling Hunters out in the open.

At that point, Gus said he'd go with them, if that would calm Ortensia's nerves. But then Prescott got involved, and she had yet to decide if it calmed or worried her even more.

Albeit none of the boys seemed to realize the danger they were about to get into – neither did Horace, apparently, but that didn't surprise her – Ginny was almost in the same line of thought as her. She didn't want Jack to go, afraid something would happen to him, but somehow Oswald managed to talk her into letting him tag along. Now Ortensia had to accept the fact that her husband was insane.

This brings us back to the present moment, where the five toons were currently packing up. Prescott had made some neat weapons, she had to admit. _Oh, maybe I'm being a worrywart_. Ortensia thought, biting her lip. They had never been caught before, so it couldn't be any different now, right?

"Everything's ready, Oswald." Gus announced.

"Alrighty then." Oswald responded and hugged Ortensia one last time. "Take care, sweetie."

"That goes double to you." she said after Oswald pulled back.

"Let's go."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Ginny gave a small salute.

Ortensia waved at her friends as they exited their section of the Refuge and clasped her hands together under her chin, silently praying for nothing bad to happen and for them to bring Clarabelle and the others home safe.

:::

The foul smell of the filthy tunnels entered through Ginny's nostrils intensely, which made her grimace. Damn it, she hated when the sewer's smell infiltrated the Underground.

The smell wasn't the only thing that bothered her, though. She was still cursing herself for letting Oswald talk her into allowing her little brother to come to the place where the Mad Doc kept all those toons hostage and did god-knows-what to them.

She had been completely dumbfounded when Ortensia frenetically announced that several other toons had gone missing. The hell was happening? Did the Doc start a new 'abduct people' fad?

Needless to say, Oswald had jumped at the opportunity and decided that they would all go look for those innocent civilians. He didn't care if Horace would be all worked up about it; this was the last straw.

Ginny couldn't agree more, but albeit Jack looked thrilled about going to the Doc's evil lair and 'kicking his sorry ass' as he had so eloquently said, she kept wondering if allowing him to come along was a good idea. Was it responsible? It sure as hell wasn't. Was it worth it? Probably not. _It made him happy, though._ She thought as she looked down at her delighted brother, who was walking beside her and gripping his sword tightly.

She then looked up at her other companions. Oswald was way ahead of them, giving the Underground some more light with his lantern and Gus was hovering beside him, chattering about something or another. Prescott was on the other side of her, but making sure he kept his distance. She rolled her eyes, vaguely wondering what his problem was now.

"Alright, folks, we're here." Gus announced and they all came to a halt.

"The projector screen to Dark Beauty Castle…" Oswald mused as he stared at it for a moment. Ginny figured he must have a felt a wave of nostalgia. He hadn't been back there since the Doc took over.

"Are you ready?" Gus asked and they nodded. "Alright then. I still need to operate this thing. Prescott, give me a hand."

Prescott started clapping his hands and Gus raised an eyebrow at him. "Eh, sorry, I always wanted to do that."

And so, the two gremlins started to put the projector working. An image of Mickey Mouse's face appeared on the screen and Gus turned to give Oswald a nod.

"All set."

"Great. Let's get goin'." Oswald said and they all jumped into the portal.

:::

The fog surrounding Dark Beauty Castle was the first thing Oswald noticed. He frowned, wondering how the Doc had managed to shield his castle like this. Or more importantly, _why_.

He perked up his ears at the sound of bubbling and snarls and hustled everyone behind some bushes. He watched intently as the big army of Blurs came out through the main gates in line, marching right in front of them. The creatures were huge; bigger than he remembered.

"An army of Blurs. How convenient." Ginny muttered, deadpanned.

"Great. How are we gonna get in, now?" Prescott asked in annoyance.

"Oswald, any ideas?" Gus turned to the rabbit.

Oswald stroked his chin as he thought of their options. Yes, he had an idea, but he didn't know if it would work. It was probably the best plan they had, though. "I think I know a way to get in." he said.

"Well, shoot." Ginny urged.

"There's a secret passage through the backdoor." Oswald explained. "Only Ortensia and I know about it. We used to hide in there in the Blot Wars. It might be filthy back there, though; no one has used it in years-"

"Yeah, yeah, fascinating story. Now care to explain how the hell are we supposed to get there without being seen?" Prescott said, his arms crossed.

"We use the long way." Oswald replied. "We go through these bushes and around the Castle. Those Blurs are as sharp as a rock and the Blotlings are even dumber; we'll be in and out before the sun rises, I guarantee you."

"And the Doc doesn't know about this passageway?" Ginny asked skeptically.

"Well…" Oswald said, scratching his neck. "He does, but he has never used it, so I'm not sure if he knows its location."

"It might work." Gus said, scratching his moustache. "If we're silent enough, the Mad Doctor won't even know we're here. I'm talking to you, Prescott."

Oswald snorted, Ginny smirked and Jack snickered at Prescott's face.

"Piss off, Gus. You should be saying that to Loudmouth over there." he said, jerking his head towards Ginny's direction. She simply raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, quit it, guys." Oswald said. As amusing as it was to hear them trading smart-assed comments, they needed to start moving if they ever wanted to get in before they were spotted.

"Yeah, show some respect, bro." Ginny said smartly and Prescott scowled.

"Piss off, brat."

Gus shook his head before turning back to Oswald. "Lead the way."

The rabbit nodded and crawled behind the bushes, his group following suit and striving to go unnoticed.

:::

"Shit – move your leg!"

"I can't even _move_ at all! – Ouch, stop elbowing me!"

"As soon as you get your fat foot out of the way!"

"My foot is the problem? Did you happen to notice the space your head takes up?"

"My head! You do realize that your wings are bigger than all of us put together, right?"

"At least they're not in the way-"

"You little-"

"Guys! For the love of God, stop fighting! I can barely move and I sincerely do not feel like listening to your ridiculous banters!" Gus bellowed.

"You keep out of this, Gus! This doesn't concern you!" Prescott snapped.

"Oh, my apologies; I did not realize how important your fight was. We can think about trying to get through this tunnel_ after_ you're done. Please, go on."

"And you say _I'm _the smart-mouth." Ginny mused and Jack rolled his eyes as he tried to catch up with Oswald, which seemed to be the only sane toon in their group at the moment.

They had managed to go almost unnoticed through the defenses – one of the Blurs had seen them, but Oswald took care of it rather quickly. When they entered through the backdoor, Jack noticed it was a gateway to a dark and narrow tunnel. They had all been having difficulties moving around and Ginny and Prescott's fighting wasn't helping any. Then Gus got involved and Jack had to squeeze in through the three to get to Oswald and keep his sanity intact.

"How much further do we have to go?" Jack asked his leader as he finally reached him. Oswald gave him a knowing smirk.

"Glad you asked, kiddo." he said and then turned to the others. "Oy! Wiseguys! We're here!"

They dropped dead on their tracks and Oswald reached out his hand to a doorknob full of cobwebs and turned it, opening a door to reveal one of the Castle's main halls. It was empty. _Score._

"C'mon." Oswald said, signaling for them to come as they exited the dark tunnel. Jack stretched, happy to be able to move again.

They began walking down the hallway. Jack noticed, with a twinge of sadness, that all the paintings had now the Mad Doctor's face instead of Oswald's, but they didn't show the glory they had before; the paintings now just showed plain wickedness and evil. _The old Doc really wanted to leave his mark, didn't he?_

"Wait." Oswald held up his hand and they stopped.

"Ouch! Watch out, will ya?" Prescott complained as he bumped into Ginny.

"Oh, that's rich. _I_'m the one who needs to watch out, Clumsy?" she retaliated.

"Shh!" Oswald hissed as a bubbling sound echoed throughout the hall. Jack saw some shadows on the walls approaching and widened his eyes. _Oh shoot, we're in trouble. _"We got company." Oswald stated.

"Goddammit, already?" Ginny muttered and the five rebels hurried to hide behind the curtains and the armors, the two Blotlings passing by moments later without taking a second glance to their hiding spots. Jack wasn't surprised.

"Alright, let's keep goin'." Oswald said after the inky creatures got completely out of sight.

They ran a few more steps before Oswald was ordering them to stop again, making Prescott once again bump into Ginny.

"Oh, what now?" he grunted.

"Y'think I'm some kind of bumper? Quit doing that!" Ginny snapped.

"Quiet." Oswald hissed before Prescott could reply. "I hear something."

"Yeah, the girl's illimitable yakking." Prescott snapped, crossing his arms.

"Big words for such a small-minded guy, don't you think?" Ginny retorted.

"Pest-"

"Why won't you two just drop it?" Gus said exasperatedly.

Jack sighed and faced Oswald again, deciding to just ignore his sister and her banter partner, and grinned as he saw that the large wooden door in front of them still had the rabbit's face on it. The Mad Doc mustn't have noticed this part of the Castle yet. _Nice._

"This is it?" Jack asked his guardian, who was eyeing the door with a hopeful look.

"Yup. This is it." the rabbit replied and then cleared his throat as he turned back towards the bantering trio. "If you're done fighting, can we move on?"

"_Yes_." Gus hissed, keeping his eyes fixed on both Ginny and Prescott, who were staring daggers at each other, though the girl seemed more amused than annoyed.

Oswald nodded and pushed open the door, the loud squeaky sound that echoed throughout the hallway making them all wince. After a few moments of silence, they crept into the other room as quietly as they could…

:::

The Hunters tiptoed across the small aisle and, as they turned a corner, Oswald sadly noticed that this part of the Castle already had the Mad Doctor's mark. Well, at least he didn't seem to acknowledge the secret passageway through the backdoor.

He held up his hand and waited until two grumpy-looking Sweepers crossed the lit hallway. When they were finally out of the way, he signaled his team to keep going. He recognized this section; the Mad Doctor's lab, a.k.a. Oswald's old throne room, should be close. Maybe the Doc had some kind of information about the hostages' location over there.

Pleased to finally have a plan, they turned a corner, but then stopped again when a couple of Spatters snarling at each other left through a big double door in front of them with the Mad Doctor's face in it – which Oswald recognized as the throne room – and hid behind the armors near the windows as the two creatures crossed the hallway, not even looking their way. Oswald had to smirk. _It's no wonder the Doc doesn't use them anymore._

He walked up to the door and opened it, looking around the room. It had been a while since he came back here and he couldn't help but feel a mixture of sadness and anger. This didn't look like his throne room anymore. It was dark and twisted and had strange liquids flowing inside of big bottles everywhere. The stained glasses now portrayed the Mad Doctor, the Beetleworx, the Blurs and a broken Wasteland. This made Oswald frown. That jackass had no right to do this. Who the hell did he think he was? And how did he manage to stay hidden for over a year creating those Blurs without anyone noticing, just to show up all of a sudden and take over their home like this?

"Hey, Os, wanna stare at the room all day or can we go in before the Doc decides he wants to sit on the throne?" Ginny asked and Oswald shook his head to snap back to the moment.

"Yeah, sorry." he said and they slowly entered the throne room. Jack whistled as he took a good look around and Oswald began searching for any sort of clue that would lead them to the abducted toons.

There were several shelves filled with odd chemicals and metallic parts of robots. A couple of machines were set up in the middle of the room that immediately caught Prescott's attention. Oswald began to grow impatient, though. How the hell were they supposed to find any clue in-

"Oswald, you'd better check this out." Gus said and the rabbit spun around, noticing that he, Ginny and Jack were looking at some papers on a white desk in the far corner.

He made his way towards them and glanced over at what they were looking at. A notebook filled with blueprints. _Damn it, how did I _not _see this? _He mentally cursed himself. This notebook was practically screaming 'clues!' in his face.

"It's just plans for machines and other stuff." Jack said as Ginny turned a page. Oswald widened his eyes.

"Wait – Is that…" he said, seizing the drawings and subtitles.

"Looks like it." Ginny stated.

"'Upgrades for the Blurs'?" Gus read the title and Oswald felt his throat tighten. Wasn't the Doc happy? He had to go ahead and upgrade what was already deadly enough?

Ginny turned a page and they all gasped, absolute shock filling their faces.

"Jesus Christ…" Ginny said, completely stunned.

"What the hell is this?" Jack said, reading the paper again.

"Oswald… is this possible?" Gus asked, looking up at the Lucky Rabbit who looked back at him in bewilderment.

"Don't know." _But I sincerely hope not._

What was on the paper… just couldn't happen. They had to stop it before it was too late… they had to find the hostages, and fast-

"Well, well, well… what have we here?" a Russian accented voice echoed throughout the throne room and the Hunters turned around, their breath hitching at what they saw. The Mad Doctor was blocking the doorway with two Blurs by his sides, a large grin plastered across his wrinkled face.

"We're screwed." Jack breathed out. Oswald couldn't agree more.

.:END OF CHAPTER 5:.


	7. Chapter 6: Bad News

**Chapter 6: Bad News**

Ginny was deciding if she should feel intimidated by the fact that their enemy was right in front of them with two bodyguards blocking the exit, or if she should just look calm and collected and pretend like it didn't bother her at all.

The Doc's latest plan was a lot to take in. She was going to kill Prescott; she didn't give a crap if their weapons were better, now their friends were about to become a hybrid of toons and inky monsters, and it was all because the Doc didn't have that stupid pin anymore. _Goddammit, Prescott._

"Doc." Oswald growled as a greeting.

"Tsk, tsk, Oswald; I figured you already knew you are to call me 'the Mad Doctor' by now." the Doctor drawled with a cruel smile.

"The name suits you." Ginny muttered and earned an elbow from the rabbit. Yeah, probably not the best time to crack a joke.

She almost froze when the Doctor chuckled and directed his glare towards her. Damn, she hadn't intended for him to hear.

"Your attitude amuses me, girly. I do not think a lot of people would've had the guts to say a word if they were in the same situation as you."

She caught the glare Oswald threw at her, which clearly said 'shut the hell up' and she frowned back, but stayed quiet.

"If you're done snooping around my personal stuff, care to share your thoughts? Pretty impressive, huh?"

"If by impressive you mean completely sick-" Oswald said in a harsh tone.

"Call it what you will." the Mad Doctor interrupted and raised an eyebrow at the notebook Ginny was still holding. "I see you got a look at my plans. Did you understand them?"

"I understand that they're as deranged as you; what's your point?" the rabbit snapped.

"I think you should drop the act, rabbit, but since I'm about to get rid of you once and for all, I believe I should as well explain my next move." the Doc began to walk around.

"How kind." Prescott retorted.

"Well, you three" the scientist pointed at Oswald, Ginny and Jack. "Stole my Resourcefulness Pin, which enabled my Blurs to quickly find the best way out of any given situation. But it also completed their organic composition. Thus, I needed to find a new organic source to fill in that gap, and what's more organic than the ink of a toon?" he smirked pointedly at the five toons. "You see, my friends, I intend to use all the toon ink I can find to create stronger, more efficient and invincible Blurs."

Ginny looked at Oswald, who seemed to be deciding between looking enraged or shocked. She quickly pulled Jack behind her protectively, ignoring his indignant 'huff'. This guy was insane and she was _not_ letting him get a hold of her little brother.

"I believe your ink would form the strongest Blurs." the Doc continued with an evil grin, pacing back and forth in front of the rebels. "What do you say?"

But before any of them could reply, the sound of a low growl caught all of the room's occupants attention. Ginny almost burst out laughing at what she saw. Coming in through a small door on their left she had failed to see before, was a tall and sturdy Blur carrying Horace and Tony by the scruff of their necks.

In one hand, she found it hysterical; the same detectives who frantically stated that they did not need the Blotling Hunters' help because they could rescue everyone themselves, ended up getting captured. On the other hand, there was now one more security blocking the only exits existent, and it did not look like something to mess with. _Goddammit._

"Well, well, well… if it isn't Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson." the Mad Doctor said with a quite amused expression, turning his attention towards the detectives. "What's up? Wanted to join the party so badly?"

Horace just glared at him and Tony was trembling so hard Ginny could hear his teeth chattering from where she stood.

As the Doc seemed to be distracted with Horace, Ginny noticed Oswald reaching inside of his jacket and taking off of his inner pocket one of their special smoke bombs. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head when Oswald looked at her and signaled with his hand.

"What?" she mouthed. What the hell did that mean?

Oswald sighed impatiently and then pointed at her.

"Prattle." he whispered. He wanted her to buy him some time while he did… whatever he wanted to do. She mouthed 'What do you have in mind?' and Oswald mouthed back 'You'll see', making her frown. "Fine, be that way. Hurry up." she whispered, getting 'Will do.' as a reply.

As Oswald crept behind them, Ginny cleared her throat, stiffening slightly when the Doc turned his head to face her. Oswald was slick, so she wasn't worried about him being spotted. Much. She was more worried about buying him as much time as possible.

"So, that's all you wanna do to us? I mean, turn us into ink-sucking monsters that only live to attend to your necessities?" she started, ignoring the questioning looks everyone was giving her.

"That's a rather… trivial way to put it, but yes, I would say so." the Doctor replied in an amused tone.

"And you don't find anything wrong with that plan?" she pressed, barely hearing her brother telling her to shut up. The Doc grinned and began stepping closer to her, much to Ginny's chagrin.

"Sweetheart, when are you going to understand that, as the supreme leader, I don't _have_ to find anything wrong with subjecting you worthless toons to inhumane treatments?"

The girl frowned at that. "How are you expecting to gain people's respect with such bright ideas as those, exactly?"

The scientist gave a dry chuckle. "I've already gained people's respect; most of your ridiculous friends succumbed to my power, remember?"

"That doesn't mean shit. They might have succumbed to your 'power', but the only thing you gained was their fear."

"I don't see the difference."

"It's entirely different!" she exclaimed, her temper getting the best of her. She heard Jack's plead to shut up, but ignored it completely. Oswald gave her a chance to speak her mind, and she was not going to pass it, "Respect goes both ways, and if you do not respect your subjects, you don't get their respect back. Terrorism isn't the same as being honored."

"Ginny, that's enough." Gus hissed.

"Terrorizing people to have your way is sneaky and dirty, and I for one refuse to follow someone who chose the path of violence to get their ass on that damn throne." she ignored the gremlin and crossed her arms, a determined glint in her black eyes.

"Ginny. _Enough_." Gus repeated sternly.

The Mad Doctor only snorted in laughter and scrutinized her up and down, as if he was observing a rare animal's movements very closely. But that soon became uncomfortable to Ginny.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." she snapped and the mad scientist smirked.

"I see you like to run your mouth a lot." he drawled out teasingly, which made her left eye twitch in irritation. "That kind of attitude entices me, sweetie. You're unusual. And I like it. Though I wouldn't push my luck too much if I was in your position."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "First you praise me, and then you threaten me? Jesus Christ, you sure love to contradict yourself, don't you?"

He chuckled lowly and she once again ignored her friends' warnings to stuff it. "I'm impressed, you know? You're surrounded by enemies, with nowhere to escape, and yet you still find time to defy me with a heartfelt little speech… You must either be very brave or very stupid."

"Aw, stop it Doc, I'm blushing." she batted her eyelashes mockingly, taking a hand to her chest like some overexcited girl who just got complimented by her crush.

The Mad Doctor raised an eyebrow, his amused expression never faltering. "I wasn't lying when I said you amuse me, but I'm warning you; if you want a painless transformation, you'll just keep quiet for now. My patience has limits."

"Y'know, I find it rather hypocritical that you haven't stopped talking since you got here and yet you're telling _me_ to shut up."

Ginny was delighted to finally see his left eye twitching. It meant he was cracking. She felt Jack tugging her sleeve and saw him shaking his head, telling her to cut it right there, but she couldn't stop until Oswald said so. God, she was tempted to shout at him to hurry the fuck up. The Mad Doctor looked about to flip.

"You wanna test my patience that much, child?" he said in a threatening tone.

"I'm always up for a new challenge." she remarked with a grin.

"Well then, I've had enough." he looked at his large minions and said in a smooth voice, "Get them."

The Blurs wasted no time in leaving their posts and started approaching the group of toons huddled together in front of the Doc's desk. _Fucking. Shit._

"Way to go, Loudmouth." Prescott snapped as the three Blurs came closer and closer, a mocking gleam present in their green eyes. She barely acknowledged the fact that the tall Blur on their left wasn't holding Horace and Tony anymore-

"Oy! Doc!" they heard Oswald's voice and they all turned their heads to look at him. The two detectives were free and standing beside the rabbit, though they didn't look as amused as him. "We'd love to stay for a little while longer, but we have places to be. See ya next time!"

And so, Oswald threw the smoke bomb to the ground and a deep green fog instantly filled the room. Everyone began coughing harshly and Ginny quickly held Jack to her chest, trying to shield him from the smoke. What was the rabbit's idea? Suffocate them?

Then she felt herself being yanked by her arm and the next thing she knew they were all making a run for it through the small door and down the hallways. She noticed Oswald was the one leading her way when he looked back over his shoulder to give her a smile.

"Great job, Gin." He said and she smiled back, tightening her grip on her brother and wishing they could get the hell out of there before the Doc even dreamed about their escape.

:::

Ortensia paced back and forth in front of Jamface, who was sitting on the armchair in their sitting area and googling on his laptop about the newest kidnappings in Wasteland. Ortensia wondered how Jack Kelly, the tabloid reporter of Wasteland, managed to get this information and put it online, since he never left his section of the Refuge.

Jamface had arrived not too long ago with news about a new type of Blurs walking around the Gulch. He said they looked like toons, but were covered in dark ink and had green, evil eyes, like the Shadow Blot had.

Her concern about Oswald and the others grew considerably after hearing this news. Where were they? What if they were kidnapped? What if they were being tortured? What if they were dead?

She was having trouble breathing as so many other 'what if' scenarios filled her mind. She should have taken a stand, she should have-

"Calm down, Ortensia." Jamface's voice made her snap back to the moment. "You know Oswald; he's a tough guy. He won't get caught that easily."

"But what if he is?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked up at her. "He won't. None of them will. They're smart, resourceful and skilled. They could do this in their sleep."

She sighed, wanting to believe him. She also hoped they'd find Horace; the horse would no doubt get caught.

She jumped when the door of their section opened and beamed when she heard the familiar bickering of her husband and the amateur sleuth.

"-and I specifically told you to stay put, rabbit! Do you have some hearing problem that prevents you from understanding simple orders like this?!"

"Horace, if I wasn't there, you'd be an inky cocktail by now! Just dry up and admit you're an idiot!"

"I'm the idiot? You were the one who put that pest enraging the doc-"

"Hey, don't drag me into your fight; I was simply following orders." Ginny stated as the seven rebels all came in through the doorway.

"Horace, if it wasn't for the prattle, I wouldn't have been able to get to you, and if I wasn't able to get to you, you'd-"

"Break free by myself."

"And how, dare I ask?"

Before Horace could reply, however, Ortensia threw herself at her husband, embracing him as if the world depended on it.

"O-Ortensia… can't breathe…" Oswald choked out and she immediately released him, concern filling her features.

"Sorry. What happened, Hunny Bunny? I was so worried!"

"Sorry, had to escape from the Doc-"

"You were captured?!" she began to hyperventilate.

"Honey Bunch, calm down. We didn't get caught." Oswald said in a soothing manner and caressed her cheek sweetly, which calmed her down some.

"See? What did I tell you? They're alive, aren't they?" Jamface said with a wide grin, stepping closer to the group as well.

"Greetings, Jamface." Gus chimed. "What brings you here?"

"_Bonjour_, Gus. I came here to inform you that I spotted some new type of Blurs over at the Gulch. They were odd, though; they looked like those inkblot-styled toons-"

"What?" Oswald gasped, looking extremely horrified. Ortensia frowned.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" it wasn't like they had never dealt with a new type of Blur before.

"Shit…" Oswald said, putting a hand over his eyebrows.

"Ozzie… what's going on?" Ortensia didn't like the look on his face. Something was very wrong…

He sighed and took her hand in his. "Ortensia… you may want to sit down."

:::

"_What_?!" Ortensia gasped. Oswald winced at her panicked and completely horrified face. He had just finished telling the Mad Doctor's sick plan and he could tell it was shocking news for his wife. Hell, it was for him, too. He was still processing the fact that the Doctor was already moving on with it. He did work fast.

"Are you serious?" Ortensia asked in such a low tone Oswald had to perk up his ears slightly to hear her.

"'Fraid so." Prescott answered bluntly.

"This goes far beyond us, _mes amis_." Jamface said with a worried look. "I think it'll take more than our efforts to win this."

"What do we do now?" Jack asked, looking up at Ginny.

"Oswald, care to share your thoughts?" Ginny turned to the Lucky Rabbit, who was now feeling uncomfortable as he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Yeah, rabbit, enlighten us." Horace said sarcastically. "Show us how _great_ and _heroic_ you are-"

"At least he can do it without making a fool of himself." Ginny snapped at him, making Jack and Prescott snicker.

"Shut up, hobo-girl!"

Oswald rubbed his temples. Horace's constant grumble and snide comments weren't helping his thinking at all. And Ginny, Jack and even Prescott's replies to those comments didn't help either. He had to come up with a plan; everyone was counting on him and if they didn't do anything-

He looked over at Gus when he snapped his fingers. The gremlin had a triumphant look on his face, which increased Oswald's hopes significantly.

"I might know someone who can help us." he said. Prescott scoffed.

"Better than my weapons? Doubt it."

"I find it extremely amazing that you can actually compare someone to a weapon." Gus snidely said to him, making the grumpy gremlin huff.

"Who do you have in mind?" Ortensia urged. Gus turned to her with a knowing grin.

"Mickey." he replied simply, his hands on his hips.

.:END OF CHAPTER 6:.


	8. Chapter 7: The IWCD

**Chapter 7: The Inter-World Communication Device**

"Say what?" Oswald said, surprise filling his features as he stared at Gus.

He didn't hold any grudge towards Mickey anymore, but he also didn't see any need to call the mouse; the rebels were no damsels in distress waiting for their knight in shining armor to save them, after all. Besides, Yen Sid had made it perfectly clear that he didn't want Mickey fooling around in his lab ever again.

However, he did know they were up a creek without a pabble, and a little bit of help certainly wouldn't worsen their situation.

"Of course! Why haven't we thought of him?" Ortensia said cheerfully, as if all of their problems were instantly solved with this simple resolution.

"Wait. Mickey? As in Mickey Mouse?" Jack asked, the corners of his lips lifting upwards.

"That's right." Gus replied joyfully, making Jack gasp.

"And how, pray tell, will we ever contact him?" Ginny cut in with an intrigued expression.

"I think 'why' would be a better question." Prescott stated in a bored tone.

"I actually agree with you, gremlin-blue." Horace chimed, shifting in his place. The sound Tony was making while scribbling down frenetically in that damn notebook was staring to get on Oswald's nerves.

"Since when? Last I heard you were buddy-buddy with Mickey." The Lucky Rabbit stated, raising an eyebrow at the horse.

"I am, but that doesn't mean he has to come here and outshine m- huh, I mean" Horace trailed off, his cheeks tinting red from embarrassment. "He must be busy. Y'know, being the mascot of a company as big as Disney must be a lot of work."

"Well, it's still a decent idea." Ortensia interjected. "Ginny asked a good question, though; how will we call him?"

Gus stroked his chin as he thought about their options. "I think I know how." he turned to Prescott and Jamface. "Do you remember that old TV we put in the basement?"

"That TV you said was, and I quote, 'a waste of electricity'?" Prescott spat, deadpan.

"Precisely." Gus nodded. "Maybe we can modify it and use it as a mean of communication between Wasteland and the Cartoon World."

"Is that possible?" Jamface asked.

"I'm not sure. I guess we'll just have to try." Gus said, shrugging.

Oswald clapped his hands together, deciding to swallow his pride and go through with this plan, since it was the only one they had right now. "Alright then. What kind of materials do you need?"

"Prescott?" Gus urged and the blue gremlin rolled his eyes.

"Some scrap metals and about eighteen power sparks, perhaps."

"Ok. You, Ginny and I will go look for those in the D.E.C.s-"

"What about me?" Jack said with a sort of hopeful expression. Oswald exchanged a look with Ginny; he knew she didn't want the boy exploring the areas near the D.E.C.s, and albeit he was normally the one who encouraged Jack to join them when they left the Refuge, he always made an exception when it came to the D.E.C.s. It was indeed no place for a little kid.

However, it was true that those rotting caves were crammed with metallic pieces, power sparks and many other similar materials. If they ever wanted to find some, it would be there.

"You'll stay here." Ginny said firmly and Jack's expression fell.

"But-"

"Yeah, you'll keep guard to the section. Ortensia's gonna need a strong man like you to look out for her." Oswald hurried to add, casting a look towards his wife. "Right, Honey Bunch?" she caught the look he sent her and immediately nodded to Jack affirmatively. The bobcat boy gave a long sigh of disappointment, but seemed to accept that answer.

"Fine." he simply said.

"Well, I'm not going into a dirty D.E.C., as you might imagine, so what part shall I play in this plan?" Horace asked snidely.

"Well…" Oswald trailed off, searching for the correct words. "This is only the first phase of the plan. As soon as we rebuild the TV, you can come along."

"You're telling me to stay out of the way?" Horace barked, looking rather outraged.

"For now, yes." Oswald replied, receiving a huff from his friend.

"I can assure you that I will not-"

"I don't care. Let's move." he cut Horace's tirade short and turned to the door, not feeling like listening to the guy's constant complaints.

He, Ginny, Gus, Jamface and Prescott quickly made their way towards the exit of the Refuge, Horace's protests echoing behind them and around the earthy walls of the section. Jesus Christ, for someone who ran his mouth a lot, Horace sure was repetitive.

:::

"This is absolutely disgusting." Prescott whined, moving a broken branch filled with a sticky substance out of his way. Ginny pursed her lips in repulsion as she dodged a big cobweb swaying above her head. She noticed a huge spider making a little cocoon around its prey and cringed involuntarily.

"You can say that again." she stated. The D.E.C. tunnels have always been avoided by all toons, mainly because of the filthy caves, the rotten smell and the fact that it was infested with bugs. And since the Mad Doctor took over, it tended to get much worse, if such a thing was possible.

She frowned, looking around the decaying D.E.C. cave they were currently exploring. Why couldn't they look for scrap metal in Mean Street? It was way cleaner over there. If you didn't count with the multiple Blurs chaperoning the place, that is.

"Stop complaining, you two." Gus scolded as he materialized near the two disgusted toons, carrying a large piece of scrap metal in his hands. "The faster we get these materials, the faster we leave. Follow me?"

"Yes, mother." Prescott deadpanned and looked around disinterested, not even moving from his place or altering his pose. Ginny could relate; she wasn't exactly thrilled about touching those rusty pieces of junk lying around either.

"Is this really worth it? I mean, creating a device to challenge time and space just so we can talk to Mickey Mouse?" she said, trying to avoid looking at the big cockroach in the corner. Jack would love to be here. "What if the Mad Doctor catches the signal? He may be able to track us down and-"

"We won't contact Mickey in the Refuge, Ginny, it's too risky." Oswald said matter-of-factly, appearing behind them with a box full of power sparks. "And while it may be hard for me to admit it, maybe we do need Mickey's help. He already saved Wasteland once."

"I know, but seriously, this could end really badly for us-"

"Look, do you have a better plan?" Oswald interrupted, putting his box down next to the materials already collected.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then this is the only one we got, so we might as well just try it, right?"

"But Oswald-" she stopped talking as soon as she caught the rabbit's knowing smirk. She hated it when he looked at her like that; it meant he knew something either embarrassing or degrading about her.

"Gin, if this was Bugs Bunny we were talking about you wouldn't even think twice about calling him."

She felt herself blush and Prescott burst out laughing. "Oh my god, don't tell me the girl has a little cartoon crush!" Prescott hollered, looking at her like she had just given him the greatest Christmas present ever. Fantastic.

"Oh, like you're one to talk." she snapped back at him. "What about your obsession with Spock from _Star Trek_?"

"Hey, Mr. Spock is a great commander, mind you." Prescott quickly assumed a serious expression.

"Doesn't explain why you have a shrine dedicated to him in your room-"

"Guys, c'mon, we're getting off-topic here." Oswald intervened. "Just start looking for parts of machines or something, okay?" he turned to the three gremlins hovering beside him. "Jamface, we'll go look for scrap metal over there." he pointed to a tunnel behind him. "Gus, you stay here and gather the parts we got so far. Ginny and Prescott," he pointed forward, to another tunnel. "You'll go that way."

Ginny gaped and Prescott emitted a sound that sounded like something dying.

"You gotta be shitting me-" she said.

"Language." Oswald scolded half-heartedly.

"Whatever, Os." Ginny crossed her arms. "Just-"

"Now wait a goddamn minute! I'll have to go with _her_?" Prescott barked, pointing frenetically at the bat girl. She rolled her eyes.

"You make it sound like a bad thing." she said and then gave him a smirk. "It's not nice to point, y'know?"

"Hell no, rabbit! There's no way I'm going down this hellhole with the reincarnation of the devil as my partner!" Prescott barked in Oswald's face with an exasperated look.

"Devil is an offensive term, foolish mortal." she said in a deep voice, assuming a mocking expression. "Apologize now for belittling me, or you shall perish in the fiery pits of Hell!"

"See?" Prescott motioned for the bat girl with an exasperated look.

"Consider it a bonding experience." the rabbit said good-naturedly.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me-"

"Prescott, don't use those words." Gus scolded, looking at the grumpy gremlin sternly. Prescott glared at him.

"You're not my father, Gus. And last I checked, I'm not a kid anymore."

"You sure behave like one." Jamface muttered.

"Can it, French-guy!"

"C'mon folks, just try to cope, okay?" Oswald pleaded, rubbing his temples in mild annoyance. "We'll meet you in about an hour."

"An hour with her… how thrilling." Prescott mumbled.

"Glad to see you love my company so much." Ginny replied snidely.

"See you later." Gus waved at Oswald and Jamface as they disappeared down the tunnel. "And as for you two… just try not to kill each other, ok?"

"I won't make any promises." Ginny said, already heading towards their appointed tunnel.

"Same here." Prescott added, hurrying to follow after her.

"See? You're starting to cope… sort of." Gus said to their backs, and in a lower tone added, "My word, hope they don't blow up the cave."

:::

Jack was dying of boredom. Staying at the Refuge sitting on his ass all afternoon was slowly becoming tiring. He sighed and walked back to the common room, deciding that there was nothing interesting in the bedrooms. He had been delving into the section ever since Oswald and his sister left to explore the outside world while he was confined to stay put because he was 'too young'. They didn't say it like that, but he got the picture.

It wasn't fair. He was a big fan of Mickey and Ginny had never expressed any sort of admiration towards him. He was sure she'd be pissed if they refused her the chance to meet Bugs Bunny.

He glanced at the weapon table, where Horace and Tony were playing a card game and looking bored out of their minds. Horace had refused to leave their home and wanted to wait for Oswald's return so he could talk to Mickey and 'show him how his career had improved'. Ortensia responded that if he considered being in the dump an improvement, then he'd have lot to talk about and Horace had promptly told her to 'shut the fuck up'. He was reprimanded after that, though, because of the kind of language used in front of a 'child'. Jack bitterly figured that he was the child. For crying out loud, he was in the beginning of his teenaged years.

Looking at the torn out brown couch, he noticed that Ortensia was lulling three of her kids in her lap. Jack smiled, thinking about his parents for a moment. For as long as he knew, Ginny had always taken care of him, but he sometimes liked to think about the time before that. He had some hazy memories of a tall woman with flowing black hair and a man that was always carrying a rifle, but nothing else. Ginny had told him that their parents died when he was four, and they had lived on the streets ever since, but Jack was sure his sister knew more about their former life – after all, she was seven when their parents passed away. Every time Jack brought it up, she would immediately change the subject, though. He really wished she would see that he wasn't some little kid who needed to be shielded from the world anymore.

A frustrated bark snapped him from his musings and he looked over at Horace. The horse must have lost again against Tony. His respect towards the puma boy was growing considerably.

"Giving up already, Horace?" Jack said with a smirk and Horace turned to glare at him.

"Mind your own business, brat!" he spat as he got up and Jack was able to see that Tony was trying to contain an overly amused smile. He did win after all.

"Where the hell are that half-witted rabbit and his little herd of goons? Seriously, how long can it possibly take to find pieces of junk in some pit?" Horace ranted, pacing back and forth in front of the table.

"I don't know, why didn't you go along to find out?" Ortensia pointed out.

The horse snorted. "Please, as if I'd step foot in those nasty D.E.C.s. I'm already risking my reputation by associating with you."

"Yeah, the rulers of Wasteland are really demeaning partners." Jack sarcastically replied. Was this guy for real?

Horace glared at him. "Why don't you just shut up, kid? I know that, contrary to your sister, you're actually capable of doing that."

Jack frowned. The guy wanted to talk about his sister? _Oh hell no…_

"You're one to talk, Pony-man. You haven't shut up ever since they left, in case you haven't noticed."

"Why don't you take that furry finger of yours and shove it right up your-"

"Horace, language." Ortensia scolded, looking down at the bunny babies in her lap.

"I'm not in preschool, Tensia. And last I checked, you're not my mother." Horace remarked and Ortensia huffed, a dangerous look replacing her normally sweet features. Jack knew she hated the nickname 'Tensia', mainly because it was what Pete usually called her. Horace must be either very stupid or suicidal, if he thought he could call her that name and get away with it.

"Call me that one more time, and I'll-"

"Remember, we're in the presence of children; keep the language and death threats to a minimum." now Horace seemed overly amused and Ortensia was seething. _Goddamn horse, doesn't know when to shut up..._

Jack perked up his ears at the ringing sound of the telephone. He had always found amazing that they could get reception in the Underground. Gus's network system worked very well indeed.

"Hello?" Ortensia said as she put her kids on the ground and made her way towards the phone. "Hi, Hunny Bunny. How's it going? Hum, hum… okay, I'll tell them. Love ya."

She turned to Horace with a knowing smirk.

"What are you lookin' at?" the horse spat.

"Weren't you bored? Oswald needs you to do something."

He gave a long suffering sigh. "If the rabbit lost his way in the D.E.C.s, he better call another sucker, because I ain't-"

"No, silly" Ortensia interrupted. "He wants you to carry the old TV from the basement to the entrance of the Refuge."

He rolled his eyes. "Damn rabbit musta lost his mind. He's gonna call the mouse here? Even I know the Mad Doctor can easily track a signal from this magnitude down-"

"Horace, if he wants you to carry the TV to the entrance, you think he wants to contact Mickey in the Refuge? Now stop with your whining and get the TV."

Horace scowled but began walking out of the room with Tony trailing behind him like the faithful puppy that he was. Jack felt indignant. There was a chance that Mickey might not be able to come and if that was the case, then he wouldn't even be able to see him. _This is so unfair!_

"Wait." Ortensia said to Horace's back, who turned around with a deadpan expression. "Take Jack with you."

Jack widened his eyes and Horace groaned. "What? No way, woman! He asked _me_, not him-"

"He said you and Jack." the boy felt himself grin. _Looks like luck's on my side for once. __Sweet._

The annoyed detective gritted his teeth. "Wasn't he supposed to stay put?"

"While they were in the D.E.C.s." Ortensia countered.

"And they're not anymore, are they?" Jack pointed out, earning a glare from the horse.

Horace sighed, grunted and marched out of the room with Tony tagging along, muttering profanities under his breath all the while. Jack got up and shot a thankful look to Ortensia before following the fuming detective.

:::

Ginny whistled softly the tune of the Bugs Bunny's Show's theme song as she carried a bunch of scrap metals down the tunnel, making an effort not to touch the rusty parts. She almost dropped the materials as she realized how heavy they were.

She glanced at her 'partner', who was carrying a piece of metal the size of a small rock. _You have got to be kidding me_, she thought with a frown, looking at her own stack of items. It was at least three times bigger than that little thing. Prescott had been at the far corner of the cave for god-knows how long just to come back with that? _Unbelievable._

"Wow, are you sure you're strong enough to carry all that?" she sarcastically said.

"What are you yakking about now?" Prescott put his hands on his hips and gave her a tired look.

"Why, it makes perfect sense that the girl is the one carrying the heavy parts while the man struggles to lift such a small stone like that, now that you think of it. How silly of me for thinking the contrary."

"Can it, girl, you were the one who went after the bigger parts, not me. Now, less pouting and more working."

"Excuse me?" she raised an eyebrow and shot him a pointed look, putting her stack of items down. "It's _your_ machine, if you recall. Why do I have to get my hands dirty?"

"Because you're the Blotling Hunter and I'm simply the equipment caterer." he replied with a cocky smirk. "I don't have to get dirty."

She felt her left eye twitching. "It's no wonder you don't have a girlfriend, y'know?"

"Don't talk about stuff you don't know, kid. I don't have a girlfriend simply because I don't want to."

"You keep telling yourself that." she muttered and lifted her materials again, grunting quietly due to the heavyweight. "Let's just keep going." she started walking towards the entrance, passing by the gremlin and sending him a disapproving look. As much as she'd love to keep the verbal fight up, she just wanted to get these materials to Oswald; her arms were already starting to go numb.

Ginny restarted her whistle of the Bugs Bunny Show's song as she walked down the earthy tunnel of the D.E.C with Prescott trailing behind. She and Jack loved the Looney Tunes; their cartoons and old comedy movies, like the Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy, were one of the only means of entertainment they had at the Refuge. She actually preferred the old black and white movies over the new shows; they sometimes got reception of the Disney Channel at the Refuge, and it was beyond her understanding how those pre-teen sitcoms hadn't been cancelled yet. Seriously, why would people waste their time rotting their brain cells in such poorly written, bad acting-ridden television shows?

"Stop that."

Prescott's demand brought her out of her musings. "Stop what?"

"The whistle; it's annoying as fuck."

She smirked. "Someone's got a potty mouth."

Prescott gave her a warning look and she chuckled softly. His reactions were just too damn funny to stop messing with him now, she decided.

So, as the grumpy gremlin turned to face the road again, Ginny started to hum the tune, her smile growing wider as her partner slowly turned his annoyed face to her again.

"Didn't you hear me, girl?"

"Yes, I did." she replied. "You said to stop whistling."

"Then stop humming, whistling, singing, whatever you're doing!" he snapped, his cheeks tinted red from growing rage. Damn, the guy did have a temper issue. "Just keep quiet, will ya?"

"What's the magic word?" she sing-sung.

"Do you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of annoying me?"

"That was a sentence, and I was going for 'please'. Since you didn't say it, I see no reason to stop."

"Fine! Please, stop!" Prescott barked.

"See? It wasn't hard, was it? Being polite?"

"Shut the fuck up."

He started walking ahead of her and she just shook her head. How could this guy expect not to be picked on? He was practically asking for it.

Finding some strength to keep carrying the heavy materials she had gathered, the bat girl kept going down the aisle, some steps behind the fuming Prescott.

:::

_These two are more alike than they'll ever realize._ Oswald thought as he heard Prescott's complaints of Ginny to an amused Gus.

Once they all had gathered enough materials to sustain Prescott's whims for a month, the rebels had made their way back to the Refuge to wait for Horace and Jack at the entrance. Personally, Oswald thought they had too much scrap metal – and it wasn't any picnic, carrying it all the way to the Underground – but Gus had said the more the better, so he wouldn't complain. Much.

Hearing a yelp, the rabbit raised his head and smiled upon seeing Horace striding in front of Tony and Jack, who were carrying the large old TV set that had been in the basement for god-knows how long. It had been his and Ortensia's first television. Gus had made it for them not long after the gremlins arrived in Wasteland. He remembered the first movie he watched in it; '_Oh What a Knight_'. Out of all of his shorts, this was Ortensia's favorite – and so was his.

He remembered cuddling up with his Honey Bunch on their couch and watching those old black and white movies, not only the ones they had made for Disney, but also Charlie Chaplin, Monty Python, the Marx Brothers…

They didn't watch them anymore, though, since Ginny and Jack practically owned his collection of old films, now.

"You found the TV." Prescott said, snapping Oswald out of his brooding. "I'm actually impressed, Horsecollar."

"Of course I did! You thought I couldn't manage to bring such an itty bitty TV like this?" the horse replied haughtily.

"Of course you could; you had me doing all the work." Jack said in an even tone.

"Stuff it, poor-boy." Horace spat.

"Why? It seems to be the truth, judging by the lack of weight in your hands." Ginny stated and then looked at Prescott. "He reminds me of you."

"You're a lippy pest, you know that?"

"It takes one to know one-"

"Shall we go, or would you rather keep wasting breath with these pointless banters?" Gus interrupted in an annoyed tone as he spun the handle of the projector screen of the Underground. Mickey's face appeared on the screen moments later, emitting a dim light.

"Where are we going, by the way?" Horace asked.

"Rainbow Caverns." Oswald replied as they jumped onto the projector.

:::

Ginny shifted slightly beside Jack as they waited for the gremlins to finish working on the old television. She stared at the colorful paint-falls of the Rainbow Caverns. She liked going there; it was all so colorful and... alive. It reminded her of what Wasteland used to be.

She remembered when Oswald first took her and Jack there. It was an amazing experience, seeing the natural crystals glowing softly in the dim lights and the incredible amounts of paint in each corner falling gracefully in cascade. She wondered if Disneyland was like that.

Oswald told her this was the best place to call Mickey, since it was far away from the Refuge, and since the Guardians protected this area, the Mad Doctor had left it unharmed. But that didn't stop him from putting Blotings chaperoning the place. The rebels had managed to stay practically unnoticed, though, which sustained her theory that the Blotlings were getting even more incompetent.

"Done!" Gus announced suddenly.

"About time." Horace said as he looked up from his nails.

"My friends… behold!" Prescott exclaimed, pointing to the strange-looking device in front of them. "The Inter-World Communication Device!"

"How long did it take to come up with that name?" Ginny asked and Prescott glared at her.

"How does this work, Gus?" Oswald asked before Prescott could reply.

Ginny surveyed the machine. It was odd; it had two antennas and a big capsule glued to the side with running electricity flowing inside. You could tell it was a TV, though.

"I suppose you just need to press this button." Gus replied and pressed a red button on the corner of the large screen. When nothing happened, he pressed it again. And again. _Wonderful_. Ginny thought bitterly. Now the machine didn't work?

"What the hell?!" Prescott shouted, moving Gus out of the way and pressing the button himself. She had to smirk. She always found amusing the way he got all worked up when one of his gadgets didn't work.

"Calm down, Prescott." Jamface said quietly, though he was roughly ignored as the blue gremlin fumed around the machine.

"Great. It doesn't work." Horace mused. Ginny felt like pointing out that any idiot could have already figured that out, but decided against it.

"Let me try something." Gus said and hit the TV with his wrench.

Before any of the toons could react, they were all flung backwards as a big explosion of electricity burst from the new device and formed a chain of power towards the sky, the noise sounding louder than it should due to the cavern's eco.

"What the fucking hell was that?!" Horace screeched from his spot on the ground. Ginny barely heard a response from Oswald as her ears were still trying to recover from the explosion.

"Was this supposed to happen?" she asked a few seconds later, struggling to catch her breath. She quickly checked on Jack, receiving a hurried "I'm fine" from him.

"Yes, it was." Jamface replied, getting up and walking towards the machine. After determining that Jack was indeed okay, she noticed that the TV was now showing a slideshow of Mickey's cartoons. It vanished after a few seconds, though.

The screen was now showing a living room. She remembered from Disney's cartoons that Jack always made her watch with him that it was Mickey's. _Jesus Christ,_ she thought with astonishment,_ it did work after all_.

.:END OF CHAPTER 7:.


	9. Chapter 8: The Brave Mouse Returns

**Chapter 8: The Brave Mouse Returns**

The Mad Doctor was unusually pleased. The toons' ink worked perfectly well on his new Blurs. As a matter of fact, his minions seemed to be working even better than before. He had to start giving those wretched toons more credit; they were actually pretty useful.

He jumped on his seat as he felt the ground shake and the loud sound of an explosion reached his ears. _What the bloody hell?!_ He thought. As he stared at the window, he saw a big chain of electricity penetrating the painted sky of Wasteland, forming a whirlwind of clouds and frowned. What the hell, indeed.

The Doctor approached the window and squinted as he looked in the distance, trying to determine the source of this unexpected flow of power. He instantly cursed the height of the Castle; with the big clouds in the way, he couldn't make out a single house.

He had a feeling that Oswald and his goon squad of Hunters had something to do with this. Those pests couldn't stay still for a day, could they? Now the remaining question was: what was all this for?

He stared at the electrifying sky for a few more minutes, as if trying to get some answer from it, before a thought hit him with the force of a ton of bricks. There was only one reason why those rebels would bother to unleash a power strong enough to penetrate Wasteland's barrier. _No… they wouldn't dare to call the mouse…_

That pesky rat would be his misery; he controlled that goddamn tool that could easily wipe them all in one motion, after all. The Doctor had to destroy the mouse before he stepped foot in his lands. He refused to deal with another hero wannabe.

:::

"_Mickey?_" the stiffened voice jostled Mickey out of his sleep. The darkness of the room filled his eyes and he groggily turned on his side to look at his clock. Was it time to wake up yet? 3:58 AM. _Nope, I can sleep for a little longer._ He was just about to return to dreamland when the voice sounded again.

"_Mickey? Where are you?_" Gosh darn it, who the heck was calling him at these hours?

Still half-asleep, Mickey reached for his mobile phone on the nightstand and pressed it against his ear.

"Hello?" he mumbled. He had yet to acknowledge that he hadn't really picked up and he still kept hearing a familiar British accent. He was too tired to associate it with anybody, though.

"_Is this thing even working?_"

With a long sigh and a shake of his head to fight away the slumber, he slowly got out of bed. Following the sound of the voice, he walked to his living room, his brain slowly considering the possibility of it being Gremlin Gus. Why was he waking him up, though?

Shaking his head again, Mickey finally noticed the dim light his television was emitting. Stepping closer, he made out several toon faces evading his screen and smiled as he recognized at least two of them. Oswald and Gus. Quickly putting himself in front of the TV and getting rid of any sleepiness left, he waved at his friends.

"Hi guys!"

"_Hey Mick. Fancy seeing you again._" Oswald said.

"Likewise, Os. Ha-ha! Say, what's up?"

"_There's no time to explain. You gotta come back to Wasteland._"

"Now? Jeez, guys, it's kind of late-"

"_I'm sorry, but your presence is required again._" Gus said. "_We can't really elaborate through this thing-_"

"'_This thing' is what enabled you to talk to him in the first place-_" a blue gremlin who Mickey guessed was Gremlin Prescott said in an indignant tone.

Now that he was wide awake, Mickey was able to notice that Horace was there too, looking a bit bored to say the least, and four other toons that didn't look familiar to him. A bat girl, a bobcat boy, another gremlin and a puma boy.

"Gee, Os, who are those?" he asked, pointing at them.

"_I'll be absolutely delighted to introduce you all as soon as you get here. I don't know how much time we have before-_"

_What the heck?_ Mickey thought as whizzes and puffs burst from his television and the image on the screen quivered. He suddenly couldn't hear all that was being said, as it was only coming in parts of sentences – including some obscenities. What was happening?

"_Oh, shit! The Doc figured out what we were doing!_" Prescott's voice barked.

"_Really? What was your first clue?_" the bat girl replied.

"_Mickey? You gotta hurry – Get the brush!-_" Oswald's sentence was cut short and a loud whiz ended the call completely.

Determining that something was very wrong, Mickey rushed to his bedroom. He had to get to Yen Sid's workshop and-

_Drat._ He thought and face palmed. Yen Sid had banned him from his workshop a year ago. He knew the wizard was still mad at him about the mess he made. How was he ever going to get there?

He had to take a shot, though. As he got to his bedroom, he banged on his mirror, the entrance to the old sorcerer's workshop. Mickey was sure Yen Sid was home. He had to let him in.

"Yen Sid! Yen Sid! Please, answer me!" Mickey called as he punched his mirror. A few seconds later, he backed away from the glass as it quivered and a magical glow covered his reflection. Maybe the sorcerer wasn't as mad as he'd originally thought, after all.

Sending a silent 'thank you' to Yen Sid, he jumped onto the magical portal. The other side was just as he remembered: a dark aisle leading to a small dim-lit workshop, in which the model of Wasteland was set on top of a brown round table.

Mickey jumped up to it and his eyes rested on the magnificent magical paintbrush. He picked it up and stared at it in awe. He had completely forgotten how light and soft it was as he passed a hand through the wooden cane.

Mickey then looked at the model. If he remembered correctly, he had to cover it with paint. After doing so, grinning as the splash of blue paint slowly formed the castle and all the other points of interest of Wasteland, his eyes widened considerably and his mouth fell open in shock.

"Oh mother of mercy…" Wasteland was no longer the bright and happy place he saw thru the mirror. It looked inert again, shadows lurking around every land and darkness filling the atmosphere.

He knew exactly what needed to be done now.

Nodding to himself, the brave mouse took a deep breath and hopped onto the model of the Cartoon Wasteland, intent on saving his brother's world again.

:::

Jack stared at the wooden top of the weapon table as he brooded. He was still wondering how the Doctor figured out what they were doing. He guessed that that electricity explosion kind of gave it away, but still, how could the Doc locate its source so quickly? Or realize it was their doing, for that matter?

They had come back from the wonderful Rainbow Caverns not long ago and there was still no sign of Mickey. Jack was starting to ponder if he actually got the message above all those whizzes and puffs. The quality of the video wasn't the best to begin with, and the Mad Doctor sure managed to mess it up even more with that little interference of his.

Jamface announced he'd stay, stating that he'd like to meet Mickey in person. Horace had refused to leave, saying it was 'too damn important stuff to miss', which led to more annoying scribbling from Tony. Jack was actually thinking about burning that notepad if he ever got a hold of it.

"How's Mickey going to know where we are, by the way?" Ortensia asked suddenly.

Jack perked up his ears at that. It was actually an excellent question. He turned to his sister and gave her a questioning look. She stared back at him, her arms crossed and her leg shaking as she sat beside him. She seemed clueless as well.

"I suppose we should come to him." Gus said simply.

"And how are we supposed to know where he is?" Horace retaliated, deadpan.

"Well, we first met him in Dark Beauty Castle." Oswald responded, crossing his arms. "I'd check there first."

"Brilliant, Os." Ginny said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Why don't we just fall right into the Doc's trap again? I'll even allow Jack to be turned into a Blur first, if that pleases you-"

"Ginny, goddammit, that's not what I meant!" Oswald snapped back, rubbing his temples.

"C'mon, mes amis, we need a plan-" Jamface pleaded exasperatedly.

"Oh, really? Funny, I thought going completely clueless would be more effective-"

"Prescott, no comments from the peanut gallery." Gus hissed at the blue gremlin.

"Oh my Goodness! We're not getting anywhere if you keep behaving like a bunch of kids!" Ortensia spat, silencing everyone. "Seriously, is having a simple conversation so darn difficult to you? Because you can't seem to say two sentences to one another that aren't insults or some witty observation! If you goofballs want to actually get somewhere, then drop the effing act and start using your heads for something _other_ than trying to outshout each other. Was I clear?"

_Wow._ Jack blinked as he stared wide-eyed at the fumming woman. Saying he was scared would be a massive understatement. Oswald wasn't kidding when he said to never, in any circumstances, anger Ortensia.

A thick silence settled in for several moments, before Gus decided to awkwardly clear his throat. "Well, the Castle is the only starting point we have, so I believe we should look over there."

"He's gonna get us all killed." Prescott muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Prescott?" Gus raised an eyebrow.

"Just because you want to commit suicide, it doesn't mean you have to drag us along."

"Gus, as much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Ginny cut in before Gus could reply. "The place will no doubt have more securities around and something tells me the Doctor won't be so benevolent like last time."

"Still, Gus has a point; it's the only starting point we got." Oswald remarked. "Besides, since the Castle is the highest place in Wasteland, it's more likely that Mickey will land somewhere around those parts."

"Great, we got a plan." Ortensia said, clapping her hands together. "See? Isn't it easier when you drop the attitudes? Now," she looked at each of the residents of the Refuge dead on. "Prescott and Jack, gather some weapons. Oswald, Gus, Jamface and Ginny, elaborate an assault to the Castle. Horace-"

"You can boss them around all you want, dollface, but I can assure you that-" Horace started but cut his tirade short when Ortensia glared daggers at him. _Damn horse, doesn't know when to stuff it..._ Jack pinched the bridge of his nose.

"If you don't want to get involved in the preparations, then just stay out of the way. If you do want to do something besides being a pain, then get us some other thing that might benefit us or something. Got it?"

Horace gulped once and gave a nod.

"Good. Now that you all have something to occupy yourselves with, get to work." she said and stomped out of the room, leaving everyone gaping at her. _Damn, __Ortensia sure has balls..._ Jack though in awe.

"Isn't she the best?" Oswald sighed after a few moments of silence, smiling dreamily.

"Lovely." Horace spat sarcastically.

"Come on; let's start working before she gets mad again." Gus suggested.

:::

Mickey rubbed his back as he sat up on the cold linoleum floor. Gosh, he really needed to practice on his landings.

Taking a good look around, he recognized this place; Dark Beauty Castle. It looked just as twisted as before, but with an atmosphere a little more… insane, dare he say.

It had odd chemicals flowing in large bottles everywhere, weird-looking machines in every corner, a desk and a big throne. What Mickey found more unsettling, however, was the fact that it didn't have Oswald's head shape anymore.

He glanced at the dark stone walls and noticed that the stained glasses portrayed images of the Shadow Blot, the Mad Doctor and some inky creatures that didn't look like Blotlings at all; these were bigger and looked stronger, also. He noticed that there was one picture of a melted Wasteland hanging on the far wall. He had to wonder why in the world Oswald would have these pictures.

Unless…

"Oswald?" he called, not receiving an answer. "Oswald? Are ya home?"

He stopped abruptly as several snarls and growls reached his round ears. He'd say it was just a Spatter, but the growls sounded fiercer than he remembered. He had a feeling it was something worse...

Grabbing the brush, the mouse twirled around and widened his eyes at what he saw. The biggest monstrosities he had ever seen in his whole life. They were the same color as the Blotlings and made those bubbling sounds as well, but the shapes and evil looks were completely different.

Springing into action, he directed a splash of paint at one of them, only making it grow taller. His eyes could burst out of their sockets they were so wide.

"What the-" he started. Paint didn't work? How?

Seeing as the creatures were charging towards him, he decided that he'd better use thinner or else he'd be done for. Splashing a squirt of the green liquid, Mickey was pleased to find that the one he caught – an inky bat – turned into a black puddle rather quickly. Thinner worked, huh? Good to know.

He wasn't counting on the inky lizard to blow a blot at the puddle and revive the bat, though. Darn it, how on Earth was this possible? What were those things?

He took a step back as the creatures surrounded him, staring at him mockingly. Gripping the brush, Mickey shot thinner to different directions, but noticed with chagrin that these monsters were really fast dodging his attacks. Not sure on how he was going to defeat them, he kept shooting blots of thinner randomly. At least while he thought of something it was driving them away.

Mickey jumped in time to dodge a strong punch from a big monster, emitting a rather high-pitched yell of surprise. Looking around as he landed on the cold floor, he gritted his teeth; where were these guys coming from? They seemed to be multiplying.

He kept shooting thinner, punching some of those which got too close, and dodging hazardous attacks from the bigger ones. _I can't keep going like this forever!_ He mentally shouted.

Hearing a 'clang', the mouse turned to face the big double doors and frowned deeply as a sudden realization hit him. This was an ambush. Whoever took over the Castle was already counting on his arrival.

.:END OF CHAPTER 8:.


	10. Chapter 9: A Change of Plans

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger in the last chapter. Here's the continuation.**

**:::**

**Chapter 9: A Change of Plans**

They rounded a corner and hid behind a column, waiting patiently as some new toon-styled Blurs made their way out of the Castle.

After some moments, Oswald gave a nod to Gus and they quickly split up in two groups; Gus, Prescott and Jack were to find Mickey while Oswald, Ginny and Jamface were to go to the Mad Doctor and stall. No doubt he was counting on them to come over to his Evil Lair after that explosion.

Of course Prescott had thrown a fit about not wanting to go and it was their problem if they wanted to die, but Ortensia was in an amazingly persuasive mood, which made him instantly agree to come. Oswald was actually surprised that Horace hadn't demanded to tag along; it looked like his last visit had been enough for a lifetime.

Watching Gus and the others disappear down the empty hallway, Oswald ran to the other direction with his own team towards the throne room. While those three were looking for Mickey, Jamface was to shut the Doc's system down in order to stop the Blur-making, and for that, they needed a distraction. Ginny would be prattling while Oswald brought Jamface safely to the Control Room. It seemed like a fairly easy plan.

The Doc couldn't notice anything, though. They only had one shot at doing this.

The three toons found the throne room in no time, since there weren't any securities around. Oswald was surprised; the Doctor was such a paranoid freak he figured the place would be full.

"Alright people" Oswald started. "We gotta buy them as much time as possible. Any questions?"

When the two of them shook their heads, he nodded to himself once. "OK, then. C'mon."

Opening the big door, Oswald froze in his place. _Shit._ He stood still, motioning for his team to be quiet. The plan would not work as well as he'd originally thought, and the main reason was because Mickey was here, tied up over a big cauldron of thinner and surrounded by growling Blurs and snarling Blotlings. The Mad Doctor was sitting casually on his throne with a way too amused expression.

"Os, what's goin' – Jesus Christ" Ginny muttered as she got a good look at the other room.

"Hmm… this is not good, _mes amis_." Jamface stated. "What are we going to do?"

That was a great question, actually, and Oswald wished he knew the answer. Looking at the Doctor again, he noticed something in his hands and gasped, horrified. The magical paintbrush. _Brilliant, Mickey. _He shook his head in exasperation.

Picking his remote up, he pressed a button, waiting for Gus to reply. With the gremlin's clever modifications, he was now able to communicate with him wherever he was.

"_Hey, Oswald._" Gus's voice came through the remote.

"We got a problem." Oswald stated, still eyeing the room.

"_What happened?_"

"Let's just say that you won't find Mickey so soon."

"_Do I want to know why?_"

"Well, he's been captured."

"_Oh shit._" they heard Jack's voice a little muffled.

"_Now what?_" Prescott said in a sarcastic tone.

"You have to come help us."

"_Right. We'll be right over._" Gus announced and the call ended.

Some minutes later, the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching caught the rebels' attention, who looked up and saw Gus, Prescott and Jack running towards them down the hallway.

"About time." Ginny said as they stopped in front of the three toons to catch their breath.

"Sorry." Jack panted. "There were loads of Blotlings where we were."

"Alright, folks, we need a new plan." Oswald stated, clapping his hands together and stepping aside to show the three arriving toons the festival that was currently taking place in the throne room. The Doc apparently thought it was hilarious to lower the rope restraining Mickey closer to the thinner pool. "Because, as you can clearly see, the original one went down the drain."

"OK. So…" Gus started, scratching his moustache in deep thought. "We still need to shut down the machines the Mad Doctor is using to create the Blurs."

"Right. Jamface, Gus; think you guys can go find the Control Room?" Oswald asked.

"Sure, Oswald." Gus said.

"Great. I can't really lead you the way, we still have to figure out how to save Mickey."

"No problem, friend." Jamface reassured. "We'll be back before you know it."

The rabbit nodded and then both gremlins disappeared in thin air. Prescott frowned.

"What about me? I can work with gadgets, y'know?"

"We might need someone halfway expert in the matter with us too." Oswald stated.

"Halfway! I'm a true expert, rabbit!"

"Guys, mind to focus? Mickey over there is about to take a thinner shower, in case you haven't noticed." Ginny snapped. Jack was looking wide-eyed at the scene through the door ajar.

"Right. Now we just gotta find a way to get in without being seen." Oswald said, cupping his chin and pondering their current options-

"I'd like ta help ya with that!" they heard a hoarse male voice from behind.

"Oh, thanks, that'd be-" the rabbit started and then froze as a realization hit him. _That voice…_ They all turned around. _Oh shit._ In front of them, grinning and smoking a cigarette, was Big Bad Pete, one of the Mad Doctor's most trusted allies.

"We don't need anything from you, traitor." Prescott snapped at Pete. "Go back to your boss."

"I'm my own boss, dipshit!" Pete growled at him.

"Sure you are. I bet the Doctor pays you well for a nice BJ every week-"

And of course, Prescott earned a smack over the head for that smart comment. Oswald face palmed. What a nut. Pete then proceeded to grab the gremlin off of the ground and get in his face, a menacing expression adorning his features.

"I'd be careful if I were ya, gremlin." he snarled. "If ya keep playin' with fire, ya might get burned someday."

"Aw, I didn't know you cared, Pete." Ginny said mockingly. "Such a sweet advice that was."

"You wanna see me get angry, princess?!" Pete growled before lifting the bat girl off the ground by the scruff of her neck, making her yelp in shock.

"Hey! Let her go!" Jack demanded and ended up getting caught as well, but by another Pete. Small Pete. _Oh, brother._

"What'd I miss?" the fat cat asked, breaking into laughter as he stared down at the four toons hungrily. _Where the hell were they coming from?!_

"Not much, but I wouldn't be surprised." Prescott spat, being shaken in return.

"Looks like we got a bunch o' wiseguys ta deal with!" another Pete, Petetronic said, coming from behind them.

Oswald soon acknowledged the fact that they were now surrounded by all four Petes. Who knew people so fat could move so silently? He made a grab for his thinner pistol, though he wasn't exactly planning of shooting them, but was quickly hoisted off of the ground by the Tron-wannabe himself.

"Ho-ho-ho, the Doc's gonna love this!" Pete Pan howled happily. The Petes then proceeded to barrel into the room and shove the Hunters onto the floor unceremoniously, yowling 'the special guests arrived!' as they hit the ground. Oswald glared up at the Mad Doctor, who was staring at them four with a shit-eating grin. He looked like a child on Christmas Eve. _Goddammit._

:::

"Way to go." Ginny turned to Prescott, who gave her a death glare.

"Shut up, I'm not in the mood. Bad enough we got caught."

"And whose fault was it?" she snapped back. "I wasn't the one who decided to provoke the Beast over there."

"Wanna say that to my face, bitch?!" Big Bad Pete shouted at her, waving a fist in the air. Ginny rolled her eyes.

Once the Petes turned them in, the Doctor had been kind enough to tie them up right beside Mickey above the thinner cauldron. They hadn't been great adversaries, since apparently the Doc had the magical paintbrush in his possession. Mickey had informed them that he had stolen it when he got captured. Luck was indeed on their side today, wasn't it?

They were alone in the throne room with the Mad Doctor and the Petes. The Blurs and Blotlings had been sent to the exterior to 'prepare' for some attack or something. The Mad Doctor was pacing back and forth in front of the rebels with a way-too-pleased expression. Ginny felt like spitting at him, though she was too far away to actually hit him.

"Doc, let them go! You already got-" Mickey started, but was interrupted by the scientist, who stopped dead on his tracks to glare at him.

"You don't get it, do you?" he said with an evil grin. "You see, Mickey, those toons over there have been true pains in the neck for over a year now. Do you really think I'd waste the chance of finally getting rid of them?"

Mickey sent Oswald a questioning look and the rabbit rolled his eyes. "I'll explain later."

"There's no later." the Doctor stated. "You see that machine over there?" he pointed at a big weird-looking gadget with tons of glowing buttons and a big digital clock counting five minutes behind him. "As soon as I set the clock, you'll all end up drowned in thinner and, without you standing in my way, I'll move on with my genius plan."

"And what plan is that, dare I ask?" Oswald inquired, deadpan.

"You see, Oswald, I discovered something very interesting about you toons; did you know that if you mix up different kinds of ink, you can create extra life?"

Ginny frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean? From the corner of her eye, she noticed Jack giving her a questioning look and looked at him with a matching gaze. The Doc was even more fucked up than she'd originally thought.

"What does that mean?" Mickey asked confusedly.

"Now, now. If I revealed everything to you, what fun would it be? Figure it out by yourselves. While you still can, that is."

"You're sick." Oswald said simply with a look of disgust.

"Call me what you will; you're the one about to die." the Doctor gave an evil laugh and twirled the brush in his hands. It angered Ginny that such a magnificent device of power ended up in the hands of someone as dirty and twisted as the Mad Doctor.

"You're not getting away with this!" Mickey shouted, squirming against the ropes.

"I already have, dear friend." the Doc replied and pressed a button on the machine, starting the countdown of the clock. _4:59, 4:58, 4:57…_ She felt a lurch as the ropes started to lower, getting them closer to the thinner at a slow rate.

"Now, I'd love to stay and watch my successful attempt at getting rid of you, but I have a friend to revive and a world to conquer." he gave another maniacal laugh and left the room with the Petes in tow.

_Great._ Ginny thought. _Killed by a cauldron of thinner. What an interesting turn my life has taken._

She looked over at Jack, who was looking down with fear in his eyes, and curled her fingers around his. He glanced at their hands, squeezing hers gently, before looking up at her and she gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Jack smiled back, dread present in his black eyes. At least they were together.

Oswald and Mickey were squirming against the rope and Prescott was shrinking back, trying to stay away from the approaching thinner. Ginny looked at the large clock. _4:41, 4:40, 4:39… _they were running out of time.

She didn't want Jack to die like this. Damn it, the kid deserved so much better than this... _Thanks a lot, God._

"Move, idiots! We gotta get outta here!" Oswald shrieked, still trying to break free.

"Think so? I'm actually feeling quite cozy here-" Ginny retaliated.

"Ginny!"

"Argh! This isn't working! We gotta break free!" Mickey exclaimed, alarmed.

"Oh, really?!" Prescott snapped bitterly. "And I was so thrilled about taking a thinner bath-"

"Prescott!" Oswald spat. "Do I need to tell you to shut up too?"

Ginny snorted and then a thought hit her. Gus and Jamface were still in the Control Room. If Oswald called them, they could get out of there. She turned to her leader.

"Call Gus!"

Oswald seemed to understand her idea, but then gave her a sarcastic look. "How the hell am I supposed to grab the remote from here?!"

If Ginny wasn't with her arms tied up against her body, she'd pinch her nose. The Doc had taken all of their possessions before restraining them and put them on the corner of the room. They were too far away to reach the remote, indeed.

The girl then was evaded with another thought and turned to the gremlin beside her. "Prescott!"

Said toon turned to her with a terrified expression. "What?"

"You can teleport outta here!"

Prescott narrowed his eyes. "Do you think I'm retarded? I've already tried that, but all this thinner smoke is affecting my powers!"

"Goddammit!" she cursed, more frustrated than scared, and looked up at the rope holding her, before glancing at the approaching thinner and finally settling her eyes on the large clock glued to the machine. _4:00, 3:59, 3:58…_ gazing at their weapons in the far corner, she breathed in once and started to swing back and forth.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Prescott questioned exasperatedly, but she ignored him. _The rope isn't too strong, if I just can… _Ginny thought and swung a couple more times, noticing the string was starting to break.

"Ginny, stop! The rope is breaking!" Jack screeched in panic. She ignored him, though. As soon as she felt the rope starting to give in, the girl pushed forward one last time and was flung out of reach of the thinner caldron, hitting the rocky floor hard and rolling over. God damn it, she was going to a spa if she was still alive by the end of the night.

"You did it, Gin!" Oswald exclaimed happily.

Ginny got up from the floor and went over to the corner of the room, picking up Jack's sword and cutting the rope around her torso in half. She stretched her numb arms before running towards the hellish machine, looking up at the clock. _3:09, 3:08, 3:07…_ she had to hurry.

She looked at all the glowing buttons attached to the device holding her friends' lives hostage, cursing herself for not giving a crap about gadgets. Prescott or Oswald should have been the ones breaking free and fixing this; this was like some foreign tongue to her.

"Oh, sure, just keep appreciating all that technology and leave us drowning in this corrosive slime!" Prescott snapped her back to the present and she turned around to look at her team.

"Which button?"

Oswald seemed thoughtful for a moment. "I think I saw the Doc pressing a red button."

She looked at the control panel again, settling her gaze on a rather big red button glowing intesely.

"You sure?"

"No."

She gulped. Worked for her. The girl pressed that very button and almost moaned in relief when the ropes stopped going down midair. She saw a joystick on the corner of her eye and, figuring it controlled the ropes, moved it to the left, consequently moving her friends away from the thinner caldron, and lowered them to the ground. Ginny went over to their side, promptly cutting the strings around their bodies with Jack's sword.

"You did it, Ginny!" Jack said, hugging her tight.

"Good job, Gin." Oswald said happily. Even Prescott seemed relieved.

"Huh, yeah, thanks, I guess." he stammered awkwardly. Figuring it would be the best she got from him, she turned to Mickey.

"Thanks, huh…"

"Ginny." she said, sticking her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Ha-ha!" he turned to Jack. "And who're you, little man?"

"Jack. Nice to meet ya!" they shook hands happily.

"As fascinating as this meet and greet party is, can we please get out of here?" Prescott almost pleaded. Figuring it was a nice request, they quickly picked up their possessions and started to move towards the exit, but the strangled sound coming from the machine made them stop.

"What the hell?" Oswald said. The digital clock now read 'SELF-DESTRUCTION in 30 seconds'. _Oh, shit._

They felt the ground start to shake like an earthquake and the rocks on the ceiling began to fall to the ground. "Move!" Oswald yelled and they quickly ran out the door.

The whole place was crumbling. Walls were falling down and cracks were breaking on the floor. They hastily searched for exits while ducking away from any falling stone. Of course the Doctor had left a final trap for them; he probably figured they'd escape sooner or later.

The toons rounded a corner, barely escaping a huge hole that had suddenly opened on the ground. Oswald yanked Ginny just in time to dodge a big falling pebble from one of the balconies above. Grabbing Jack's hand, she strived not to fall in the shaky ground and to dodge any other falling rock. She wondered how much time the Doctor had lost installing the whole self-destruction system.

The girl smiled when she saw an open door. They ran faster, intent on following the way to the darkness of the endless night of the Wasteland's sky, but Mickey's warning cry stopped them.

"Look out!" they halted before reaching the door as a big stone wall fell down, blocking the way out.

Oswald looked to both sides before fixing his gaze on the left. "This way!" he cried and they made a hasty run to that very side, being extra careful with the tumbling pebbles and walls. She noticed several Spatters and Seers, which apparently had been left behind, running in random directions and bumping into each other, being hit by rocks the following moment. She flinched at the image and tightened her grip on her brother's hand.

_If we get out of this Hell, I'll watch all of Jersey Shore's reruns._

Ginny felt the hand that was holding Jack fall and looked back, panicking instantly. Jack had tripped. Looking up, she gave a silent cry as a rock came falling in his direction. Helping him up and wishing he was littler so she could carry him like she used to, they ran out of the way, hearing the 'thud' the rock made as it collided with the floor, and caught up with the others. They stopped as Oswald raised his hand and she looked forward, widening her eyes. The whole ceiling had fallen and had created a big hole on the ground.

"Jump!" Oswald urged.

"You're a rabbit, that's easy for you to say!" Prescott snapped.

"You can teleport; stop complaining!" Ginny replied and ignored Prescott's response of the correct term being 'materialize' and not 'teleport'.

She picked up Jack by underneath his shoulders and flew all the way down the hole, as Oswald and Mickey jumped and Prescott materialized beside them. This was the entrance to the yard, if she recalled Oswald's description correctly. He had told them several times about his walks with Ortensia and how he passed through a big stone arcade with metal armors on each side.

The big arcade was a bit destroyed and the walls weren't as flawless as he'd said they were, but it worked for her. Oswald had said there was a projector screen somewhere around here.

They crossed the big yard, noticing that the Mad Doctor didn't give a rat's ass about the lawn; it needed urgent mowing. She also noticed the ground wasn't as shaky here. It seemed like the Doctor had forgotten to install the self-destruction in this part of the Castle.

As soon as they got to the projector screen, Prescott immediately put it working and the five toons wasted no time in jumping into it.

.:END OF CHAPTER 9:.


	11. Chapter 10: A New Hope

**Chapter 10: A New Hope**

A cold wind blew against Jack's ears while he walked down the Mean Street sidewalk with the remaining members of his team. He winced as his right leg hit the pavement a little too harshly, mentally cursing the Doc's little trap for making him trip and screw his limb up.

Ginny was serving as a crutch, supporting his weight with his right arm around her shoulders as she tried to match his slower pace. Oswald was walking in front of them, his head hanging low and talking quietly to Mickey. Prescott was bringing up the rear.

The little bobcat was scared out of his mind. They left the Castle halfway safely, but Gus and Jamface had stayed behind. Who knew what had happened to them? Oswald said they'd figure it out later, since it was too dangerous returning to the Castle right now, and Ginny was being way too positive about them for his tastes. "I bet they've already escaped and are right now heading for the Refuge", she had said. He wanted to believe her, he really did, but he just couldn't shake off this bad feeling growing in his gut.

The boy looked around and frowned, noticing how empty the once populated Mean Street was. There wasn't a single Blotling or Blur chaperoning the place, which was odd. The Doc was indeed up to something big.

Everyone was still trying to figure out what he meant with 'creating extra life by mixing different kinds of toon ink'. It didn't make any sense at all. Maybe Ginny was right and the Doc was smoking some weird weed in his free time.

Rounding a corner, they came face to face with the entrance to the Underground, the sewer's smell escaping through the holes on the lid and invading Jack's nostrils. Jesus Christ, they should get a freshener for the Underground.

Oswald opened the metallic lid and the five toons went down the rusty ladder one at a time. Prescott hurried to the unplugged projector screen at the end of the dark and smelly tunnel and quickly put it working, Mickey's face appearing on the bright screen seconds later.

"Are we going to the Toon Refuge?" Mickey asked. Jack figured Oswald had been filling him in on what had happened since his last visit in the last couple of minutes.

Oswald nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Ortensia's dying to meet ya."

The rebels jumped onto the projector without any more delays.

:::

On the other side of the projector, Oswald stared at the familiar earthy tunnels with a warm gaze. They were home. He really hoped Gus and Jamface managed to escape and were now in their section waiting for them beside Ortensia and Horace. He didn't like leaving them behind like that, but he found himself incapable of going back to the Castle right now.

As the five toons made their way through the tunnels, Oswald felt like something was different. There were odd footprints on the ground and shades of black ink on the walls. _What the hell…_ his sixth sense started tingling and he quickened his pace.

Rounding a corner, Oswald stiffened as he saw the door to their section wide open and looking quite damaged, as if someone had forced the entrance. _Ah, shit_, the rabbit thought. Something was indeed very wrong. He quickly stepped inside and looked around the sitting room. The place looked like it had been ravished by a hurricane. The weapon table was missing a leg, the remaining scrap metals were scattered around and some were even broken apart. The furniture had clearly seen better days, with shattered glasses and ragged couches.

Oswald walked towards the bedrooms and checked their interior. Nobody was there. The whole section was deserted. His heart started beating harder against his chest as panic began to overtake him.

"Ortensia?" he called. Opening another door, he felt relief invade him when he saw the Bunny Children, but frowned when he noticed how frightened they looked. They weren't hopping around or making any happy sounds; they just stood huddled together and trembling.

Then suddenly, Oswald noticed a tall shadow appearing on the wall behind them and frowned. He went for his whip and turned around to face whoever was creeping up on him, but jumped when he saw who the individual was.

"Horace?"

The horse just stood there gripping a rifle with a maniac look in his blood-shot eyes. Looking at his clothes, Oswald would say the horse had been in battle recently, as he had several cuts and wounds all over his body. What the hell happened?

"Gee, calm down, Horace; it's just us." Mickey said, approaching the two rebels. Horace seemed to acknowledge their presence and lowered the gun, panting hard, his shoulders tense.

"Hey, Mickey." he greeted half-heartedly, all but collapsing on the damaged couch.

"What happened here?" Ginny asked quietly. Horace just sighed and put a hand over his eyebrows.

"Where's Ortensia?" Oswald urged. The horse looked up at him with a mixture of pity and rage in his eyes.

"She's gone, okay?" he replied quietly. "They're all gone."

For a moment, Oswald forgot how to breathe. He felt as if his knees were about to collapse and let him fall into an endless abyss, a brief sensation of lightheadedness taking over him. That couldn't be true… could it?

"W-what?" the rabbit mouthed, not able to utter a sound. He felt a hand on his shoulder, the white glove telling him it was Mickey's.

"Yeah. The Doc's cronies passed by while you were in the Castle." Horace explained and shook his head exasperatedly. "They took them all."

"The toon rebels?" Mickey inquired. Horace nodded miserably.

Oswald stared at a point on the further wall, not really sure how to react. He was willing himself not to cry, biting back some angry tears as an enraging feeling slowly grew inside of him. He had already lost her once… he _couldn't _lose her again...

"Where are the other two flying goblins?" Horace asked.

Prescott frowned at the insult, but before he could utter a word, Mickey replied, "They were still in the Castle."

"Were? Don't you mean 'are'?"

"The Doc set the whole place to self-destruct."

"Yeah, we managed to escape, but we haven't seen Gus or Jamface ever since." Ginny added, crossing her arms.

Horace groaned and leaned his head against the couch, putting his shabby hat on top of his eyes. "I need a vacation." he muttered.

"Don't we all?" Prescott agreed, slumping onto the damaged armchair.

Oswald clenched his fists, feeling tears finally falling from his eyes. _How dare he take my Ortensia away… I'll make him pay dearly…_

Mickey squeezed his shoulder gently and Oswald looked up at him. His brother looked worried. Wiping his tears, the leader of the Resistance straightened up.

"Now what?" Ginny asked quietly and Oswald looked over at her.

"We'll make him pay." he said resolutely. "He won't get away with this."

"That's right, Os." Mickey chimed. "We'll show 'im who's boss."

The two brother shared a determined look, happy to be in the same line of thought. Oswald stuck his hand out and gave a small smiled. "Together."

Mickey smirked and clasped his brother's hand. "Together."

:::

The normally dark sky of Wasteland seemed to be getting darker by the second, as if something big was about to happen. The few civilians out of their homes were staring at the horizon in awe, as a dark shadow was approaching at an alarming speed.

The army of Toon-Blurs, Blurs and Blotlings was slowly making its way towards every city, village and town of Wasteland. Chaos was about to be caused. Terror was about to be spread. More fear was about to fill the toons' hearts.

The Mad Doctor felt like he hadn't been this satisfied in a long time. The two annoying rodents were finally out of his hair. At last he was free to do whatever he wanted; he could finally build a new kingdom.

He wondered if those wretched rebels were alreasy awake; their attempt at hiding in those tunnels below Mickeyjunk Mountain had been cute. Did they really think the Doctor wouldn't find them at some point? He'd make sure they'd be the first ones whose ink would be sucked and mixed in the extra-life formula.

But for now, the scientist would savor the panic and destruction his minions were about to cause in the comfort of his lair. And as a bonus, no one was stopping him this time.

The animatronic king looked at the crystal ball woman – whose name he didn't bother to remember – and demanded to see what was happening. He smiled, relishing the view of Oswald's dear toons running for their lives as the new monsters invaded their communities. It was cute that some were actually willing to fight back, which proved costly for them. They sure wouldn't try anything funny so soon.

The Doctor looked at his animatronic minions through the ball. Being the one who made them for Oswald, it had been easy reprogramming them to hate the rabbit and all toons. Animatronic Donald, Goofy and Daisy were proving to be very good at wreaking havoc as well. The Doctor figured it had something to do with the destructive applications he had installed. Animatronic Captain Hook seemed to be having a blast terrorizing every living soul in Ventureland and Tortooga.

All in all, it was proving to be an amusing evening. The ruined buildings, the screams and explosions were indeed entertaining. He couldn't wait to see what a certain something would do once he awakened it.

:::

Ortensia groggily opened one eye while wondering why everything hurt.

Blinking several times to fight away the slumber she'd been forced into, she looked around, noticing that she was in some kind of basement. The lights were off, so she could only see with the moonlight coming through a small window. The wallpaper on the walls was torn and the floor was made of cold concrete. She heard rats running inside of little cracks on the walls and flinched in fear. Why was she there? The last thing she remembered was…

_Oh my Goodness._

The cat lady closed her eyes as she started to remember what happened and therefore the reason why she was here. She had been abducted. The Mad Doctor had invaded their refuge with tons of Blurs while Oswald was at the Castle. The rebels had tried to fight back, but the Doc's cronies spread some green gas around the sections and knocked them all out.

Looking around, she saw the other toons that also lived in the Refuge, noticing that they were still unconscious. The only one who wasn't there was Horace. She hoped everything was okay with him. She turned to her left and spied Gus and Jamface on the far corner, growing both worried and relieved when she didn't see Oswald and the others.

Ortensia started to try to stand up, but fell back when she noticed she was being restrained by metal chains. Was this some half-assed version of a dungeon?

Hearing footsteps from outside, the former queen of Wasteland leaned against the cold wall and closed her eyes, pretending she was still unconscious, as the big metal door opened with a creak. She saw a dim light entering into the room through her eyelids and heard a voice she'd recognize anywhere.

"Well" Big Bad Pete started. "They got knocked out pretty bad."

"Why did he keep 'em, though?" Small Pete asked. "Why didn't he just kill 'em?"

"How should I know, dumbass? The weirdo's decisions are as messed up as his head."

"Maybe that's why he's called 'The Mad Doctor'."

They both let out a loud cackle and Ortensia felt like rolling her eyes, not really surprised to see the two toons talking shit about the Mad Doctor on his back. She'd really like to see what the old Doc would do to them if he ever found out.

Well, he was probably already planning on using the two buffoons in his sick scheme, anyway. It would be just like him to stab his allies in the back.

"Why are we here again?" Small Pete asked suddenly.

"To check on 'em, remember?" Pete replied. "Doc wanted to know if they were awake. Said he could only move on to the next phase when they woke up."

Ortensia paralyzed. Did they have to stay asleep until Oswald rescued them?

"Oh, I just can't waits to see the Doc's brilliant idea this time." Small Pete said. "Bet it's gonna be big."

"You're right, pal." Pete agreed. "And no one's gettin' on our way this time."

They let out a somewhat maniacal chuckle and moments later, Ortensia heard the door being closed with a thud.

_Hurry up, Ozzie…_

:::

Oswald opened the sewer's lid slowly and peered at the crowded street through the small breach. The people in Mean Street were running around like crazy, screaming incomprehensible words. He wasn't sure why at first, but then all made sense when he saw a group of huge lizard-shaped Blurs walking around the square.

"This'll be… interesting." Mickey mused beside him. Closing the lid, Oswald turned to his team.

"OK, folks; before we do anything else, we gotta take care of those monsters over there."

"Agreed." Horace said, gripping his rifle.

Receiving a nod from the others, he opened the lid again and slowly crept out of the Underground, trying to stay low while doing it. As he noticed his team following suit, he directed for them to stay down and try not to be seen.

Since the inky creatures seemed to be truly enjoying themselves while terrorizing innocent people, the Blotling Hunters took the time to run behind lamplights, barrels and small bushes. Oswald perked up his ears at a soft whimpering and turned towards the firefighters' building. The front wall was destroyed, revealing four little cow toons and a frightened cow woman.

"Oh, Jesus, we gotta save them." Ginny instantly said. Oswald rolled his eyes. He agreed with her, but he sincerely couldn't think of doing anything else until they rescued Ortensia. He just wanted to destroy the attackers so they could find the Doc, kick his ass-

"Let's take 'em to some place safe while they're not looking." Mickey suggested, pointing at the Blurs in the middle of the square. Oswald nodded, deciding it was a decent plan.

Making the rest of the way towards the building, Mickey and Oswald kept an eye on the Blurs, who seemed way more interested in an old horse man than on them – _wait, what?_ Oswald suddenly acknowledged the scene in front of him. They were actually attacking a defenseless old man. He couldn't believe the Doc.

Sharing a look with Mickey, he turned to his team. Ginny was carrying two of the little toons in her arms, Jack was carrying a baby in one arm and had the other around an older girl and Prescott was leading the terrified woman out of the building.

"Guys, we're going over there, OK?" Oswald said, pointing at the enemies attacking the old man.

Ginny glanced at where he was pointing before looking at him with a worried expression. "Be careful."

Oswald nodded, giving her a reassuring smile before Mickey and him sprang into action. The rabbit grabbed his whip and thinner pistol and Mickey clutched the two swords Prescott had lent him.

"Oy! Inkblots!" Oswald called, attracting said inkblots' attention right away. They actually seemed delighted at the new sight.

"Why don't you fight with someone your own size?" Mickey defied. While he said this, the old man hurried to look for a hiding spot.

The two brothers earned a growl from the monsters and Mickey turned to the rabbit. "I'll take care of this one" he pointed at the one on the left. "You take the other."

Agreeing, Oswald went for the Blur on the right and Mickey went for the other one. When the creature made a grab at him, Oswald was quick to dodge the attack and shot a thinner bubble from his pistol towards the monster. It shrieked in pain and flung a fist at him. Jumping backwards, Oswald swung his whip and hit the creature, leaving green lines around its inky body that soon started to release a soft smoke. The thinner was burning it.

The Blur growled and spat a black inkblot. It was huge and Oswald could hear a bubbling sound from it. The rabbit jumped up and the blot passed under his feet. When he hit the ground again, he yelped as he had to dodge several more blots. He suddenly looked at the Blur's open mouth and then at his gun and smirked. He waited patiently until the monster shot another blot at him before pulling the trigger, releasing a thinner bubble right into its mouth.

It had the desired effect; the Blur snarled and growled in pain, clutching its fat throat and falling to the ground. Oswald approached the creature, noticing a black puddle of ink was forming underneath it. Without being able to take any more of the Blur's pained screams while it melted, Oswald simply pulled the trigger of his pistol and ended the monster's suffering.

Looking at Mickey, he saw he had handled the other one pretty well, as it was lying on the ground with a huge hole in its chest.

Walking up to his brother, they high-fived and looked at their work, pleased.

"Not bad, little bro." Oswald said and Mickey chuckled.

"You weren't bad either." the mouse replied.

"Yeah, yeah, you were both great. Now, care to take a look around?" Horace snapped bitterly.

Oswald looked up and cringed at what he saw. _Holy shit. _He had forgotten about the other Blurs. Some were toon-styled, others were lizard-shaped and there were even a few Blotlings – Slobbers and Sweepers.

Sighing, he glanced backwards. The others had taken the cow toons to the shelter under the train station.

"Guys!" he called and the toons came over. "Help us, will ya?"

"Time to kick some bad guys' ass." Jack said, unsheathing his sword and gripping it tightly. Horace recharged his rifle and Ginny grabbed her crossbow, already preparing her wings. Prescott seemed content with Oswald's remote – he had asked to use it, since he didn't know how to use a gun.

Both sides stared at each other, waiting for one of them to start. When a Blur growled, Oswald raised his whip.

"Let's do this."

:::

Mickey charged at the Blurs and Slobbers that were daring to come too close. He was trying not to hit the toon-styled Blurs – he didn't know who they were and didn't want to hurt them.

He wished the Mad Doctor hadn't stolen the paintbrush. This could have been so much easier if he had the magical tool. And who knew how much destruction the Doctor could cause with it in his hands?

After dodging several attacks from the inky beings, the mouse jumped and struck a blow with the thinner swords, living several marks on their bodies. As the monsters growled in pain and tried to catch him, he took the time to cut the nearest lizard's tail, and while it waited until it grew back, he sliced its head.

He repeated the process on the other lizards, dodged more attacks from the Slobbers and then struck his swords on their guts a couple of times until they broke apart. What disgusted him more was the fact that the creatures kept moving their heads even with their body parts separated.

Shuddering, Mickey turned to his friends and decided to help. Ginny seemed to be doing a decent job as a sniper, flying up in the air and hitting several enemies with arrows; Oswald and Horace seemed to have the situation with the Sweepers and other lizard-shaped Blurs under control; and Oswald's remote seemed to stun the toon-styled Blurs enough that Prescott didn't need much help. He decided to go help Jack, even if he was fighting the Sweepers with great skill.

Arriving at the bobcat's side and slicing two Sweepers in half, he shot the boy a smile. Jack returned the smile and they both faced the rest of the Sweepers and some toon-styled Blurs that decided to leave Prescott alone for a bit. Mickey struggled not to hurt them too much and decided to give the same advice to Jack.

"Don't hurt them too badly; they're still innocent toons." he told him and Jack nodded, striking blows less fiercely than before.

After what seemed to be the longest minutes of Mickey's life, the enemies were all down. The toons were panting hard and shared victorious smirks with each other.

The civilians started to leave their hiding spots and stared at them, shock, relief and wonder filling their eyes. Then, after several seconds, the townsfolk started to applaud and large smiles broke in their faces.

"Our heroes!" they screamed with joy and started approaching the grinning heroes.

Mickey had a feeling that this wasn't over yet, though. They didn't know where the Mad Doctor had run to and something told him that Mean Street wasn't the only place in Wasteland under attack.

.:END OF CHAPTER 10:.


	12. Chapter 11: Battle for Wasteland

**Chapter 11: Battle for Wasteland**

"So, where do we go now?" Ginny asked Oswald as they walked down the Mean Street sidewalk. Oswald had been talking to the Usher about the Doc's whereabouts for the past fifteen minutes, so she figured he must have an idea of where to go by now.

While he was talking to the Usher, Ginny had taken the time to go buy ice creams for her and Jack and it had been the first time she'd entered the Ice Cream Parlor without being immediately shooed away. _Guess being a hero pays off, after all._ She thought contently as she liked her vanilla ice cream while holding Jack's chocolate one with her other hand.

"I'm thinking about Ventureland." Oswald replied. "The Usher said the pirates are raising a ruckus in those parts."

"Ventureland, then." Ginny nodded and looked around the wrecked square. Even if she hated Mean Street with all of her heart, this the place where she and Jack spent most of their childhood. Seeing it like this made her feel extremely depressed.

She spied Jack flirting with a pretty cat girl next to the Museum and smirked, shaking her head good-naturedly. _Boys._ Finishing her ice cream, she strode over to them, making it look like she was just passing by, yanked her brother's ear and pulled him away from the girl in the process.

"Ow! Ear! Ear! Ow! Ow!" Jack screeched until she made sure they were far away from the confused girl and released his ear. He clutched it and glared fervently at her. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"We have places to be, Casanova." she stated.

"Goddammit, you could have just said that instead of almost ripping my ear off!"

"But it wouldn't have been nearly as fun." she reasoned and laughed at her brother's frown. "Cheer up, little bro" she put an arm around his shoulders and handed him his chocolate ice cream "Here's your treat." he raised an eyebrow at her before taking it, somehow managing to look pissed and pleased at the same time.

"The pirates are fooling around in Ventureland and it is our duty to stop their fun." Ginny explained, putting her hands on her hips.

"Try yanking their ears. That puts an end to all the fun, believe me." he snapped, rubbing his sore ear again and she chuckled.

They both turned around at the sounds of Prescott's high-pitched yells of protest, watching as Mickey practically carried the gremlin away from two twin cows, who were giggling cutely at the scene.

"OK, folks" Oswald started, approaching the group with Horace. "The Usher said Captain Hook and his crew are destroying Ventureland at a quick rate. How about we pay them a visit?"

"I think we should stay." Prescott stated. "The ladies here don't seem safe enough."

"Prescott, you'll have plenty of time to try to get into those gals' pants after we kick the Doc's butt." Oswald said with a roll of his eyes.

"The key word being 'try'." Jack muttered smartly, receiving a glare from the gremlin.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion, kid." Prescott said, his arms crossed.

"Let's just go, fellas. Ha-ha!" Mickey urged before a fight could start, and the six toons promptly made their way towards the projector screens.

:::

Ortensia inhaled sharply, already feeling her arms going numb with the force of the chains restraining her. She glanced at the small window, watching the dark clouds passing by. She didn't know how many hours it had been since she woke up in this hellish place, but it already felt like days. It didn't help that she was claustrophobic and constantly being locked amongst these four walls was slowly driving her crazy. It reminded her of her inert times; her body had been in some kind of coma state, but her mind had been fully awake. She remembered feeling lost in a complete void, as if she was the Blot's little prisoner.

The former queen of Wasteland looked at her cellmates. Only Gilda, Henrietta and other two horse toons had woken up. She sincerely didn't mind that Tony was still asleep at all; she didn't know if she could take another "Horace the Messiah" lecture right now.

Her thoughts drifted to Pete's last visit. Jack Kelly had chosen the most unfortunate time to wake up; Pete hadn't even stepped foot into the basement when the Wasteland's tabloid reporter started to scream for dear life. He had been immediately taken to the Mad Doctor, Pete's booming voice echoing from the outside in a way-too-pleased tone for Ortensia's liking.

After that, everyone agreed to stay quiet whenever the Petes were around. Less Toon-Blurs would be made that way. At least for now.

She perked up her ears at a low moan and looked at the far corner, wondering who was waking up now. She saw Gus and Jamface stirring and slowly raising their heads. Gus scanned the room, blinking several times, before taking notice of the chains restraining him. Jamface looked around and tried to sit up, making the metallic chains tingle.

"_Sainte merde._" the French gremlin said quietly while glaring at his restraints.

"What happened?" Gus inquired before looking in Ortensia's direction. Squinting, he whispered, "Ortensia? Is that you?"

"Hi, Gus." she greeted, giving him a weak smile. "Hey, Jamface."

"What are you doing here?" Jamface asked.

"The landlord kicked us all out, can't you see?" Gilda snapped from the other side of the room.

"Dry up, will ya? It's not their fault." Henrietta whispered to her. Gilda just rolled her eyes. Saying that she was pissed would be an understatement, but hell, who could blame her?

"What?" Gus said, looking more than a little confused.

"The Mad Doctor invaded the Refuge." Ortensia explained and frowned. "Where are Oswald and the others?"

"I have no idea." Gus replied with a shake of his head. "We last saw them at the Castle."

Ortensia stiffened as she heard footsteps and raspy voices from the outside. _Oh, dammit, not again…_ "Guys, there's no time to explain, but whenever that door opens, you have to pretend you're still asleep."

"But-"

"Just do as I say – quickly!"

Ortensia leaned against the wall and closed her eyes just as the door burst open, the infernal creaking echoing throughout the large basement.

"Oh, Goddammit!" she heard Big Bad Pete's curse and knew that Gus and Jamface had followed her lead. _Thank god. Can't lose any more of us._

"What the hell? Why aren't they awake?" Small Pete demanded.

"Y'think I know, idiot?" Pete hissed before groaning. "Shit, the Doc's gonna be pissed."

"C'mon, when's he _not_ pissed?" Small Pete chuckled.

"Not the time to be a wise guy, Small Pete!" Pete barked. "The Doc ain't moving a stick until they wake up! And what happens if they don't? He'll use _us_ as a replacement!"

If Ortensia could open her eyes, she'd have widened them. As irritating and frustrating as the Petes were, she didn't really wish for their death – or whatever the hell happened to toons after they were turned into Blurs. She wouldn't wish that to any toon, even the ones who betrayed her and Oswald.

"Y'think he'll do that?" Small Pete inquired, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

"Oh, he will, trust me." Pete replied, exasperation in his voice. "Well, he's been having fun with that varmint. Maybe he won't be needing more toons for a while."

"You better be right, jackass." Small Pete said. "C'mon, let's check on the others."

And with that, they slammed the door shut.

Ortensia opened her eyes and looked at the three awakened toons. _Others? What others? Does that mean there are more of us trapped here? How many? Were Oswald and the others with them? Wait, exactly how many Toon-Blurs are there?!_

Several questions flooded her mind, panic instantly filling her chest and she began hyperventilating. Goddammit, they couldn't pretend to be unconscious much longer, or else the Doc would think they were dead and throw them into a thinner pool, or something. She knew he wouldn't leave extra luggage lying around.

They were in _so_ much trouble…

"Calm down, Ortensia." Gus said suddenly, making her face him. "Oswald and Mickey must be on their way right now."

"What if they already got caught, huh? What if they're being tortured as we speak?"

Gus's chuckle made her fur bristle in irritation. "You've always been a drama queen. Just give them time; if there's anyone who can defeat the Mad Doctor, it's them."

Ortensia looked at the leader of the gremlins, desperately wanting to believe him. What was she thinking, of course she believed him. Oswald and his Hunters were the best around, and now that they had Mickey's help, it'd be a piece of cake… she hoped.

_Oh, sweet lord, help my Hunny Bunny through this…_

:::

Mickey looked around the deserted Tortooga, memories flooding his mind. The pirates' home didn't look like it did last time, but then again, it was the same with every other part of Wasteland. The buildings were colorless and broken apart, the glasses were shattered and the lanterns were scattered around, their light enabling them to see in the dark.

There hadn't been a soul to be seen in Ventureland, but Hook and his own blurry minions had definitely been over there at some point, if the demolished buildings, the colorless trees and the shades of dark ink everywhere meant anything.

Prescott had put the projector screen to Tortooga working, since not only was it the only exit out of Ventureland – apart from Mean Street – but it was also the likeliest place for Hook to step foot in.

As soon as they noticed four Toon-Blurs walking in their direction, the Hunters quickly burst the door of the shack near the projector screen open and hid inside. Mickey looked through the breach the door ajar left and scanned the area. All he saw was Blurs, Blotlings and some Beetleworx, but his angle of vision was quite limited from where he stood. Still, it looked like the village was under invasion as well.

"You see Hook anywhere?" Prescott asked behind him.

"No." Mickey shook his head. "But the place sure is crowded."

"How many are they?" Oswald urged.

"I'd say dozens." Mickey turned around as Oswald stroked his chin, deep in thought. Mickey looked around the old shack, wondering if anyone lived here. _Probably,_ he guessed, looking at the scattered half-emptied bottles of beer and the cigarette ashtray on the floor.

"OK" Oswald finally said. "We need a plan."

"Oh, really? Whatever gave you that idea?" Ginny snapped sarcastically.

"Hush, Ginny." Oswald scolded with a frown.

Mickey bit his lower lip, thinking of their current options. They couldn't really race all the way around Tortooga without being spotted, and since most of the Blurs were toon-styled, he figured avoiding a big fight would be wise.

Hook could only have gone to the Jungle or Skull Island. Those places were both dangerous, though, so it would be stupid to venture through them without so much as a clue. Besides, the projectors were too far away and they couldn't really ask anyone, since there wasn't a non-Blur pirate to be seen.

_But maybe…_

"Ozzie?" Mickey called.

"Yeah?"

"If Hook were to go somewhere, do you think he'd go to the Jungle or Skull Island?"

"I'd say Skull Island." Oswald replied after pondering the question for some moments.

"Yeah, his ship's over there and he practically worships it." Horace added, snorting. "How stupid is that?"

"Says the guy who beats the ever loving shit out of anyone who touches his James Bond movie collection." Jack pointed out, smirking.

"Can it, brat! No one asked your opinion!" Horace snapped, a furious blush tinting his cheeks.

"Well, I guess I know where Hook's at, then." Mickey said. Oswald perked up his ears.

"Y'think he went to Skull Island?"

"It's just a hunch, but yeah, I think so."

"And how will we ever reach the projector?" Prescott chimed, crossing his arms. "If you haven't noticed, the place is flooded with inksplots."

Oswald scratched his head and, moments later, snapped his fingers. "I know a way to reach the other side.

"This oughta be good." Prescott mumbled.

Oswald made his way to the far wall of the shack and kneeled down. He took his left ear off and unlocked a small door on the floor that Mickey had failed to notice. The rabbit stood up and smirked at them.

"There are a _lot_ of hidden passageways in every Underground of Wasteland." he explained.

"Am I to understand that we're taking the Underground to reach the other side?" Horace said, more shocked than anything else.

"Yeah. Why?"

"How long has it been since _anyone_ used that passage?"

"How the hell should I know, Horace? I haven't been around here recently!"

"Does that mean it isn't _cleaned_?!"

"Neither was the Refuge and that didn't seem to bother you."

"That's different! I ain't stepping foot in a disease-infested hellhole!"

"Do you have to complain about every damn thing?" Jack said, his arms crossed.

"No asked you, brat!"

"Alright, enough, guys." Mickey said, glancing at the broken windows and noticing more Blurs approaching the shack.

"Yeah, those douches over there are getting too close for my liking. Care to hurry up?" Prescott snapped.

Horace kept complaining under his breath, but eventually went down the hole with everyone else.

:::

The Tortooga Underground was a little different from the Refuge. The walls were made of rusty metal that shielded the passengers from the thinner river outside. This place looked more like a drainpipe than a tunnel, though.

Oswald grimaced, listening to the rats and cockroaches running around. He should really make the pirates clean this up, when the war was over. He knew the chances of them cleaning whatever were none, but damn, this place was almost as filthy as the D.E.C.s.

He pointed the flashlight to each side, watching several bugs hiding inside of little holes. He tried to ignore the splashing sounds their feet were making as they walked, afraid they were stepping in something else other than mud. He also tried to refrain from muzzling Horace and end their misery. The horse's bitching was wearing everyone's patience thin – especially Oswald's – but, being the leader, he needed to control his temper and stay cool-headed, even though that was proving to be harder than he'd originally thought.

"Oh, shit!" Horace hissed, splashing in a dark puddle and making everyone stop to glare at him. "Son of a bitch! These were my favorite shoes!"

"Oh, for God's sake, buy some new ones!" Prescott snapped.

"Do you have any idea how much these cost?!"

"No one cares, Goddammit!" Ginny spat.

"It's easy for you to say, hobo! You poor people don't understand the meaning of a-"

"Horace" Oswald stressed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If you want to attract attention so goddamn much, then please, help yourself and leave. We got enough on our plate right now and I'm really not in the mood to listen to you. Understand?"

Horace gave him a dark glare, but eventually shut up, which surprised Oswald. Normally, it took more than a lecture to shut the horse's loudmouth.

Thanking whatever deity was watching over them for this blissful silence, Oswald started walking down the pipe again. The Underground seemed to have no end.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw how astounded Mickey looked as he glanced around and smirked. Mickey probably had never been in a place filthier than a public restroom. After all, he _did _live on the "Happiest Place on Earth".

"Oh, God, finally." Prescott breathed out as they reached a big metal gate with a large pirate skull adorning it. Oswald inwardly cringed as he felt the skull's eyes staring straight at him, as if they were watching his every move.

"This is it?" Mickey asked, analyzing the gate closely.

"Yup." The rabbit said and then turned to Prescott. "Time to shine, Prescott. Will you open the gate for us?"

"Gladly." Prescott replied, moving in front of Oswald and Mickey and quickly beginning to work on the lock.

"Damn pirates." Horace hissed behind them. Oswald had to guess he was still trying to clean his shoes up, if the constant splashing meant anything. "I'll sue the shit out of them."

"Horace, it isn't such a big deal-" Mickey reasoned in a bored tone.

"Not a big deal?! Their reckless attitude towards this dump resulted in getting my property ruined! How's that _not_ a big deal?" Horace shook his head disapprovingly. "Seriously, how the hell do they expect to gain some sort of recognition if they can't even turn their territory into something halfway presentable?"

"I'm sure there's room for them in the deepest pits of Hell, Horace." Oswald snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "But if I recall correctly, we have more important business to attend right now."

"Stuff it, bunny, you're the one who was supposed to ensure the happiness of all of Wasteland's inhabitants. Do I look happy to you?" Horace spat back, pointing to his scowling face to emphasize.

"You never are, why would today be any different?" Ginny deadpanned, crossing her arms. Horace sneered at her.

"I was actually relishing the several minutes you spent without opening your mouth, tramp girl." he told her disdainfully.

"Excuse me? You're the one who's been torturing our ears for the past twenty minutes, in case you haven't noticed!" she spat back. Before Horace could reply and start another fight, they heard a throat clearing and turned around to look at Prescott.

"If you guys are finished debating that utterly important issue given the current situation, can we perhaps get going?" the gremlin said simply. Oswald noticed with a smile that the gate was now open and there was an already plugged in projector screen on the other side, much to his surprise and relief.

"I found this baby here and kind of fixed it. Think we can use it instead of the one up there?" Prescott asked, gesturing to the top of the tunnel. Oswald nodded.

"This'll do just fine." he said. _Hang on Ortensia, we're almost there._

.:END OF CHAPTER 11:.


	13. Chapter 12: Pirates

**Chapter 12: Pirates**

Oswald shifted on the cold rock he was sitting on and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and cupping his chin with his hands as he stared at the horizon ahead.

The rabbit frowned at the sight of three tall Blurs walking in circles in the center of the pirates' territory, also known as Skull Island. It had been a pretty liberal place before, where anyone could wander around and sail through the endless seas surrounding the place. Now it was a Pirate-Droid-Blur base.

He turned to look at his team, who were lost in a deep slumber inside of the cave they had claimed for the night. He didn't really blame them. They were exhausted and needed to rest. He knew he needed as well; Ginny had snapped at him earlier when he denied it, pointing out the dark circles underneath his eyes. He just couldn't allow himself the luxury of sleeping when Ortensia was still captured in God-knew where.

So, the Lucky Rabbit decided to stay as a lookout. His mind kept wandering to thoughts he always tried to push away, though. Like, if Ortensia was hurt, or stuck in a dungeon, or… he wouldn't even entertain the last thought. The other rebels' wellbeing was another thing that concerned him greatly. No doubt they would have a 'special treatment'. He cringed as so many different ways of torture rushed through his mind.

Oswald felt the pain in his chest worsen at the thought of Gus and Jamface. He liked Jamface a whole lot, but he would be damned if he lost Gus. The gremlin was his best friend, his most trusted ally. The one he could always rely on. He couldn't lose him and Ortensia, he just couldn't.

_Great._ Now he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep. Ginny was going to murder him. But if he wasn't going to get any rest, he might as well make himself useful and come up with a plan to find Hook so they could get the hell out of there.

He looked up at the big skull-shaped rock that gave the island its name and wondered if the Captain was somewhere up there. He knew there were some hidings up above those rocks.

They definitely should check them out, once the others decided to wake up.

Pleased with his little plan, Oswald glanced at the multiple chaperones marching around the beach. He had never seen so many inky minions before. However, the Hunters couldn't really fight them; they would probably wind up being captured or attract unwanted attention. That was always something avoidable. But maybe if they went around the island behind the rocks they'd go unnoticed…

It was worth a shot trying.

:::

Ginny craned her neck around the rock they were currently hiding behind and tightened her grip on Jack as she felt him try to pry her arm off of him, ignoring his sound of protest. There was no way she'd let him wander around in a place as dangerous as Skull Island.

"Jesus Christ, there's too many of them." Jack mused as the rebels looked at the center of the island, to the various Pirate-Blurs chaperoning the place. Ginny turned to Oswald, the confident smirk he had moments ago replaced with a thoughtful expression.

He had woken them up a few minutes ago and told them about some half-assed plan he had cooked up while they were sleeping. Basically, he had ignored her advice to take a nap and now he looked like he was about to pass out, the adrenaline probably being the only thing keeping him awake. She constantly wondered who the adult was in their group.

"No offense, but what were you smoking when you imagined the possibility of passing by the Nazguls over there unnoticed?" she inquired, genuinely confused.

"I agree with Batty, rabbit." Horace turned to Oswald as well. "Unless you have some teleporting device, I can honestly say that I have no clue as to how you intend to do this."

"Well, we'll just have to be slick. And _quiet_." Oswald replied, turning to the horse as he said that last part.

"Screw you, bunny, I-"

"Didn't you hear him? _Quiet._" Jack said cheekily and earned a glare from the sleuth.

"You sure this'll work?" Mickey asked in a worried tone.

"No." Oswald replied.

"Works for me. Let's move." Prescott urged. Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering how they had managed to stay alive this long.

As they made their way behind each rock around the edge of the island, Ginny casted a look at the big rock that was slowly getting closer. Oswald thought Hook was somewhere up there. She sincerely hoped he was right, or else this whole trip would be for nothing.

She glanced at the clueless Blurs walking around and had to bite back a laugh. She couldn't believe the inkblots didn't even notice them creeping from one of the rocks surrounding the middle of the island to another. How stupid could they be?

Ginny turned to look at her mates and followed suit as they slowly got up and hastily made their way towards one of those paint/thinner pipes. They huddled together, panting and not making a sound. Ginny followed Oswald's gaze as the rabbit looked up, seeing that they were precisely beside the skull-shaped rock. She was actually amazed to see some terraces up the rock. That must be the way to the hidings Oswald was so excited about.

Without saying a word, her leader made his way up, Mickey following suit. Prescott began to 'fly' up the rock and then Horace went next. Jack began his climb and Ginny brought up the rear.

Jack pushed her up as soon as the rebels reached a small ledge, her ears perking up as a loud yelp sounded. She instinctively held Jack protectively and gazed at the source of the noise. Saying she was shocked was an understatement.

"Mr. Smee?!" the toons all exclaimed at the same time.

:::

Jack's mouth was agape as he stared at Captain Hook's right hand man. He and Ginny had met him once, when they were still homeless. They had stolen some coins from his pocket when the pirates had been visiting Mean Street. Needless to say, they'd had the pirates up their asses ever since.

Smee looked worse than he remembered, though. His clothes were torn and he had bruises and cuts all over his body. He figured it was the result of the pirate's attempt at escaping the captured toons' fate. Jack was rather surprised that Captain Hook would treat his most trusted ally like this, though.

"W-what the hell are ye all doin' here?!" Smee screeched, looking at each of the toon rebels in front of him. "Ye're supposed to be dead! Ah Christ, this ain't good…"

"What's the matter, Smee?" Mickey asked, raising an eyebrow.

Smee sniffed loudly before looking down the ledge and standing up. "It ain't safe here. C'mon."

Smee rounded the curve of the rock and Mickey and Oswald hurried after him. Jack shared a look with Ginny, who shrugged, before following them. He snorted once an obscenity and a complaint about 'not staying put one goddamn minute' sounded from behind.

"Will you shut up, already?" Prescott snapped at Horace.

"What? I'm just pointing out the facts, blue-boy-"

"Shh." Oswald hissed. "What's goin' on, Smee? Why are all these Blurs-"

"Shh! It ain't safe here, Goddammit!" the old pirate cut the rabbit off. "Follow me." he said before opening what looked like a curtain of leaves and stepped inside the dark hole behind it, standing aside to let his unexpected guests pass.

Jack took a look around this new place. It was a small yet surprisingly well hidden cave. In the middle of the poorly lit room were five pirates sitting around a small table, drinking and playing some card game. They all had the same aspect as Smee: torn clothes and bruises gracing their skin. Jack had assumed there weren't any refugees after the attack, so seeing these toons here made him jump slightly in shock. He had always figured the pirates were so stupidly loyal to Hook that they would follow him anywhere he went.

He _really _needed to start giving these morons some more credit.

"What the hell are those twerps doin' in our property?" a pirate dressed in green asked snidely as he turned to glare at the six intruders.

"They're toon allies, Starkey." Mr. Smee said.

"Oh, suck my balls and call me a bitch." An old pirate said in awe, squinting at them. "Ain't that that ole faggot Mickey Mouse?"

"Hey!" Mickey snapped indignantly with a frown.

"D-don't call him that, Billy." Smee sighed impatiently. "I'm sorry, fellas. This's been hard to us all."

"What happened?" Oswald asked. "What are you all doing here?"

"Ain't it obvious? Hook's gone mad and we ran away like chickens." Starkey responded in a bitter tone. "And you? Weren't you supposed to be dead or somethin'?"

"We came back recently. Satan says hi." Ginny shot back.

"Ginny, hush." Oswald hissed sternly.

"No, let her talk. There's not much we can do now. Might as well enjoy our last moments of freedom." Starkey said dismissively, staring at the stone wall in front of him. _Damn, this guy's pretty fucked up._ Jack thought.

"Yeah, yeah, my heart bleeds for you. Now can we focus on the issues at hand?" Prescott urged irritably.

"Do you know where Hook is?" Oswald asked.

The pirates shared glances. Starkey took a long sip out of a bottle of rum. Jack envied him; he'd always wanted to try strong drinks, but Ginny wouldn't let him. It sucked, being young.

"If ye're looking for Hook, then ye're kinda outta luck." a portly tall pirate replied after a moment.

"What do you mean? He isn't here?" Ginny asked.

"Dammit, just what we needed." Horace muttered, shifting from one foot to the other.

"He's been at the Jolly Roger all day." Starkey said. "Took our crew and left his minions here in case we decided to make our presence known."

"He'll probably be up your asses once he finds out you're alive." Billy said casually while glaring at a bottle of vodka. "I'd recommend you to leave him be if ye want to keep breathin'. Or at least don't lure those wretched inksplots to our hiding."

"As you might imagine, it isn't our intention to give your location away or anything." Oswald assured. "We're all on the same side."

Starkey raised an eyebrow and looked them all up and down. Jack felt terribly uncomfortable, mainly because this guy looked more dangerous than Smee.

"What do ye want from the Cap'n, then?" Billy demanded after spitting to the side. Jack cringed in disgust. Why did the pirates have to be so lousy?

"He's one of the Doc's most trusted allies; therefore he must know where he is." Prescott explained casually while examining his gloved hands.

"I see." Starkey said, taking another sip from the bottle. "Ye want to find the Doc then."

"You figured that out all by yourself, huh?" Horace spat irritably, crossing his arms.

"Horace!" Mickey hissed. Horace just shrugged.

"Goddammit, Horace, do you ever shut up?" Oswald sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No, it's fine. As Smee said, this's been hard to us all." Starkey said, putting the bottle on the table and standing up. "I'll show you the way to the Jolly Roger."

Jack widened his eyes. Had he heard well? Was this pirate willing to help them this easily? There had to be some catch; the pirates never helped anybody without some kind of reward afterwards.

"Gosh, really?" Mickey said in bewilderment.

"In one condition."

_Here we go_. Jack thought, rolling his eyes. He just couldn't wait to hear what Starkey could possibly want.

"What is it?" Oswald urged.

"You draw the inkblots' attention away from our hiding. We ain't got any weapons whatsoever, so we wouldn't put up a big fight and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like becoming a Blur, or whatever the hell they're called, anytime soon."

"Deal." Oswald nodded.

"Wait." Billy cut in, also standing up. "Make that two conditions." The pirate approached the rabbit and looked him straight in the eye. "I'll help ye too. But when you become king again, rabbit, we want a reward." Billy said.

"Look, you can have whatever you want after this is over, okay?" Oswald sighed, exasperatedly. It was obvious that he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Starkey shared a knowing look with Billy and the other pirates. Jack didn't like their expressions one bit; they looked like a pack of wolves deciding what to do with their prey.

"We have a deal." Starkey eventually declared. Jack could only imagine what kind of reward the pirates would want.

.:END OF CHAPTER 12:.

**A/N: I want you all to know that I did not intend to offend anybody when I used the word 'faggot' in this chapter. It was just something I imagined the pirates would say, since I don't consider any of them to have any manners whatsoever. I respect each and every person as they are and I would never call anyone that word (unless they pissed me off too much ;)).**


	14. Chapter 13: The Jolly Roger

**Chapter 13: The Jolly Roger**

The Mad Doctor tapped his fingers on the velvet covering the armrests of his throne. _Two days_. He thought. _Two fucking days and the goddamn toons still refuse to cooperate._

He got up and began pacing back and forth in the ample room. He didn't know who Ortensia thought she was fooling with this charade. He was too smart to even ponder the possibility that his Sleeping Serum could have made all those wretched toons go into a coma. He knew very well what the serum could do. They were clearly faking it; those walking drawings must have thought they would be safe for as long as they kept this up.

But they couldn't do this forever; they'd starve to death. They would have to 'wake up' eventually, and when they did, he'd make sure their punishment would be memorable. Especially Ortensia's. He was sure it had been her idea to keep him waiting, so she would pay dearly for it. Actually, he almost wished the goddamn rabbit was still alive so he could make him watch his dear wife suffer.

He frowned as he took a glimpse at the door ajar and saw Big Bad Pete and Small Pete walking down the aisle, chattering away about something or another. The Petes were starting to piss the Doctor off at a quick rate as well. Every time he sent them to check on the prisoners, they would come back empty handed. Was it so darn difficult to make those retarded toons cooperate?

_They'll pay for their stupidity-_

His thoughts were interrupted as a loud, terrified yelp sounded. The Doctor turned to a large thinner caldron in the middle of the room and smirked, watching the toons that had decided to cooperate squirming against the ropes that sustained their weight above the death trap, whimpering and begging to be released.

He would make these pathetic beings' punishment lighter than the refugees'. They coped, therefore deserved a reward. He still considered himself a righteous man, above all else.

As he kept watching the poor bastards' every move, he decided he could wait for Ortensia and that gremlin Gus a while longer. These toons right here provided great entertainment.

:::

"_Distract those damn inksplots and we'll get the boat. I don't give two shits about how you do it; just drive them away from us. Think ye can do that? Good. Then leave your transport to us. Ye still owe us though, rabbit._"

With Billy's last words still fresh in his mind, Oswald scanned the large beach from behind a rock. His team was scattered around the area, waiting for his signal to attack. There were less Blurs over here, which was good. He hoped.

Starkey and Billy were hidden somewhere with Prescott, waiting for Oswald and the others to start fighting and drive the inkblots away from the seashore. Apparently, there was some broken boat over there that could be fixed and used to get to the Jolly Roger. Oswald didn't know how they intended to fix it, since everything that was broken in that seashore seemed irreparable, but he didn't question.

Prescott had somehow wiggled his way out of the fight by deciding to go help the pirates with the boat. He said it was to make sure the 'Senile and Buddy' didn't try anything funny, but Oswald knew better. _Sneaky bastard._

He shook his thoughts off as he remembered that he still had to take part in a bloodbath with the Blurs so that the two pirates and gremlin could build their transport safely, in order to lead the Hunters to a possibly even bloodier battle with Captain Hook. This just kept getting better and better_._

He turned to look at Mickey on the rock next to him and nodded at the mouse. Mickey nodded back, and turned around to give the others the signal.

Oswald rose from his hiding, clutching his whip in one hand and his pistol in the other. He knew he'd get the inksplots' attention any minute, so he'd have to be slick.

And as he had predicted, a tall and muscled Blur snarled at him the second he stepped foot in the sand. _Shoot_.

"Now!" the rabbit commanded. His team instantly jumped from their hidings and their enemies huddled together, snarling and ready for a fight.

And soon, the Blotling Hunters were engaged in a battle with the inky monsters. It consisted mostly of dodging attacks while trying to strike some blows as well, but apparently the Blurs had received several amazing upgrades. Oswald could barely swing his whip without having at least three monsters breathing down his neck. He vaguely wondered where the Doc had found time to make these modifications.

He briefly caught the two pirates and Prescott running towards the seashore from the corner of his eye. Their luck was that Hook's minions were too focused on Oswald and his team to notice them, or else they would have already been captured. Seriously, didn't they know what being discreet meant?

Oswald focused his attention right back to the battle as he was almost squashed by a growling, giant Blur. He didn't know where so many monsters were coming from, but they seemed to be multiplying by the minute. The Hunters were being engulfed by so many of them that he was sure they'd drown in ink if more kept coming. _Knew it couldn't be that easy. _He looked over at Mickey.

"We gotta drive them away from here!" Oswald yelled, though he wasn't sure if Mickey would understand; the inkblots' noise could be heard in China it was so loud.

However, Mickey did understand, much to the rabbit's relief, and they started to back up some steps away from the seashore, the Blurs advancing towards them at the same pace.

"Looks like we pissed them off." Jack mused.

"Now what?" Ginny asked as she hit the ground again, pushing her brother behind her.

"Now we have to get out of here while keeping their attention on us." Oswald replied.

"Oh, perfect. We'll have to be their supper, too?" Horace snapped irritably.

"Less talking and more running!" Mickey cut in as the Blurs growled and clawed at them. The Hunters instantly ran away from the beach, the growls and snarls from Hook's minions echoing after them.

:::

Prescott raised an eyebrow as he arrived at the seashore of broken material. "You have got to be shitting me." he stated whilst gazing at a broken piece of wood the old bat and his comrade called a boat.

"Neat, huh?" Billy chuckled, stepping his foot on a clapboard. Prescott wasn't really surprised when it broke apart.

"How exactly do you intend to fix this junk?" the gremlin asked impatiently.

"'This junk' has been my boat for a long time, mate!" Starkey snapped defensively. "Sails like wonders. Ye won't find anything like it."

"I'm sure I won't." Prescott mused, still eyeing the poor excuse of a transport. Dammit, would they all even fit in that thing? "How long has it been since you last used it?"

"Why's that important?" Starkey asked, moving the ripped flag out of the way.

"Well, I don't know, since my life's already on the line, it would be nice to know how much longer I'll live." the blue gremlin started approaching the broken parts, hearing the growls of the Walking Inkblots slowly dying out. Oswald and the others must have already led them away. He wondered how they intended to come back without alerting the authorities again.

"Ye're that smarty-pants gremlin, aren't ya?" Billy asked, squinting at him. Prescott raised an eyebrow.

"Why's that important?" he mimicked Starkey's response, getting a sneer from the old pirate.

"Look, this's the best ye'll get, so stop complaining." Starkey sentenced in an almost exasperated fashion as he began lifting large wooden boards.

Prescott sighed and began picking up some pieces. He asked again, how did they intend to fix this junk? Yes, there was no other word to describe the material. It barely stuck together and seemed awfully unstable. The boats needed some strong consistence against thinner and Prescott would betted this would melt the second it contacted with the green sea in front of them.

"Will ye be starin' at the wood all day or do ye wanna help building your ride?" Billy snarled at him, making Prescott look up at the old man. He and Starkey were lifting a rather large piece of wood that seemed about to break apart the moment it hit the sand.

"Goddammit!" Starkey spat as the fragile material suddenly split in two, making the two pirates stagger backwards slightly. Prescott had to bite back a laugh at the irony.

"It sails like wonders, you said?" he uttered with a cocky smile, making the two toons glare at him.

"Cram it, gremlin, nobody asked for yer opinion!" Billy snapped.

"Yeah, whatever, let's just see what we can do." Prescott responded, picking up more pieces and analyzing them. If he had a salary, he'd demand a raise. _Maybe I should mention it to Gus when-_

He stopped himself, suddenly freezing in place with a blank expression. He would never admit it out loud, but he was actually worried about his… acquaintance. Or should he say friend? It seemed like such a foreign concept to him; he had never considered Gus as his friend before, but perhaps he should…

He suddenly heard a loud curse and looked up at Starkey, bursting out laughing the moment he saw how the pirate managed to tear yet another wooden board apart.

"If ye value yer life, you'll stop laughin' this instant…" Starkey hissed warningly and Prescott had to make a huge effort to stifle his laughs.

"Sorry. Just wondering where you got such a helpful talent as shredding to pieces everything in your sight."

"No comments from the peanut gallery, all right?" the pirate snarled at him, clenching his fist tightly.

"With me, you'll get them anyway."

"Just shut up before I decide to throw you at the thinner."

:::

"You have got to be shitting me." Ginny said bluntly with a bemused expression. Albeit Mickey would've opted for a different kind of language, it had been his thoughts exactly.

The boat Prescott and the pirates were supposed to have been fixing was nothing more than a plank of wood with a mast stuck in the middle. Oh, and it had a ripped flag as well. How was that supposed to carry them all to the Jolly Roger?

"Quite the contrary, girl. According to ole Starkey here, it sails like wonders." Prescott said with a sarcastic yet amused expression. Mickey just couldn't fathom how the gremlin found this situation funny. "I mean, can't you tell?"

"I swear gremlin, if ye say one more word, I'll rip that fucking mouth off yer face. Capiche?" Starkey snarled.

"I'm just sharing my point of view."

"No one asked for it, so shut up." Billy spat, inhaling from a cigar.

"Well, fellas, thanks a lot, ha-ha!" Mickey intervened before Prescott could say something in return. He swore it, sometimes he didn't know who was worse in this group.

"Don't forget about our deal, rabbit." Billy reminded yet again. Mickey had to wonder why the pirate was so eager for Oswald to fulfill his end of the bargain. It was just making Mickey suspicious; what could the pirate possibly want with such urgency?

"I won't." Oswald assured in a bored tone. "Thanks again. C'mon, guys-"

"No way in hell am I stepping foot in that piece of junk!" Horace snapped. Mickey rolled his eyes. Horace was really starting to piss him off with all of his complaints.

"What did you say, horse?!" Starkey demanded, balling his hands into fists.

"Bad move. He loves his boat-"

"Shut the fuck up, gremlin!"

"Let's just go, fellas." Mickey sighed, making his way to the boat. He just hoped they'd get to the end of this alive.

:::

Much to Mickey's surprise, the boat not only floated but it also sailed decently. _Who knew? _Maybe they wouldn't drown in thinner after all.

As they moved further away from the coast, Mickey began searching for any sign of the Captain's big and extremely hard to miss ship. He felt a sensation of déjà vu invade him as he remembered the last time he got aboard the Jolly Roger. He wished Pete Pan was still on their side, even if they didn't intend to fight Hook. Or did they?

Actually, he hadn't given much thought to what they would do once they got aboard the ship. They just needed to know where the Doc was and it would be nice if his sidekick didn't warn him about their not-so-dead state.

"Hey, are we going to fight Hook, or…" Mickey decided to ask Oswald.

"Only if necessary." his brother replied after some moments. "Which I'm sure will be."

"Yeah, the Captain's not exactly known for being easily persuaded." Ginny added from Mickey's other side.

"Like all the other pirates." Prescott agreed in a bored tone.

"Except Smee." Jack chimed.

"Smee's a special case." Ginny said.

"Special my ass. He couldn't defend himself for the world." Horace said.

"Yeah, Starkey was probably the one who saved his neck." Jack stated.

They stopped talking as soon as the large shape of the Jolly Roger came into view. It still looked as majestic as last time, the fog surrounding it giving the ship a mysterious atmosphere.

"We're here." Oswald declared.

The Hunters stared up at the magnificent ship for a few moments as Oswald dropped the anchor, stopping the boat altogether.

"Should we ring?" Ginny cocked an eyebrow at the rabbit.

"How about we make Hook a surprise?" Mickey urged, smirking.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd be absolutely delighted to see us." Horace added.

"Then let's get on this ship, folks." Oswald said. They jumped to one of the lifeboats and pushed the rope sustaining it, the distance between the Jolly Roger's deck and the toons decreasing with each tug. Mickey wondered if the Captain's crew was up there as well.

He looked down at their poorly built boat, a bit surprised to see it sinking and, therefore, melting. It had been sustaining itself fairly well before. It must have been because of the anchor. _Well, no way back now._

With a final tug, the lifeboat finally got to the deck's level and so they were able to jump off of it. Mickey snapped his head up as he heard the snarls and bubbling he was so accustomed to and grimaced at Hook's inky and monstrous crew. Oswald wasn't kidding when he told Mickey about how the Doc had abducted the pirates.

"Well, well, well. Look who's back from the dead." a familiar male voice mused above them and before Mickey knew it, the robotic version of Captain Hook was in front of them with a devilish smile on its face. "What's up, mateys? Missed me that much?"

Seeing the amused look in the Captain's eyes and the bloodthirsty expressions on the Pirate-Blurs' faces, Mickey was sure they wouldn't be able to leave this ship without a fight.

.:END OF CHAPTER 13:.


End file.
